The Nets project to have significantly more cap room than any other NBA team this offseason — they’re in position to open up more than $60MM in space. However, they’re unlikely to take the same approach as last year’s top cap-room team, Philadelphia, which spent big on win-now free agents.
As Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes in an Insider-only article, the Nets signaled when they reacquired control of both their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks that they might require at least a two-year rebuild. Some rival teams believe Brooklyn will end up rolling much of its 2025 cap room over to the 2026 offseason, according to Windhorst.
“They’re going to use it in trade because they’re not going to have anyone to pay in this free agent market,” one executive said of the Nets’ cap space. “They could end up right back in this spot next year.”
Here are a few more items of interest from Windhorst and his ESPN colleague Tim Bontemps:
- While the hope in Philadelphia is that better health luck next season will result in a bounce-back year for the Sixers, there’s still no update on what the treatment plan for Joel Embiid is and no assurances that he’ll be back to 100% in 2025/26, as Windhorst and Bontemps note. “Until they know what is happening with Embiid, there is no way to project what they will be next year,” a league executive told ESPN. “They will have a hard time changing that roster.”
- The Pelicans are just 9-19 in games that Zion Williamson has played this season and project to have an expensive roster next season, so even though Williamson has been healthy and performed well as of late, rivals continue to wonder if he’ll end up on the trade block, Windhorst writes. “The question about the Pelicans is whether they would consider trading Zion,” a rival general manager told ESPN. “It hasn’t really been an option over the last couple of years because he’s been injured, and his value hasn’t been high enough. Even now, I don’t think they could get great value. So they will probably see if he can carry this play over into next year.”
- Multiple executives who spoke to Bontemps lauded the Wizards for their work at the trade deadline, including bringing in veterans like Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart while taking a flier on 2024 first-rounder AJ Johnson. “I like what they are doing,” an executive said. “They’re doing things the right way.” Conversely, there’s some skepticism around the league about the way in which the Raptors – who traded a first-round pick as part of a package for Brandon Ingram – are attempting to accelerate their rebuild, says Bontemps. “I don’t like what Toronto is doing,” one exec told ESPN. “Trying to flip it quick is dangerous.”
Sure, the Nets aren’t going to hand out a $200M deal to a 34 year old who’s long past his prime. But players like Ty Jerome and Naz Reid available at 28 would very much fit what they’re doing.
Ty isn’t even close to the class of FA that Naz is.
Nobody said anything about class of player.
yeah but I would challenge that… Jerome will be in the running for 6MOY. He’s been great and will get paid this summer. He’s definitely earned a shot at running a team, similar to the shot that Brunson got.
Pritchard will win SMOY. Jerome only plays 19.5 MPG.
While he’s been highly effective offensively, he can’t guard his shadow, which limits his upside as a starter (only 9 career starts).
Brunson started 127 games before leaving DAL (including 61 in his final year, where he also averaged 31 MPG). So I will disagree on him earning a chance to run a first unit.
Jerome is more like TJ McConnell. He’s elite at his role but can’t be a starter due to a critical flaw in his game.
I didn’t say he’ll win, but he’s in the race along with Beasley and Aaron Wiggins and maybe a few others.
Jerome is playing just 19 mpg because he’s behind Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.
Pritchard is behind Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. He’s able to get more tick (28 MPG) because he isn’t a sieve.
I like Jerome but he’s not even the 6th man on his own team. That would be LeVert (pre-trade) and Hunter (post-trade). He’s a great story but let’s not get carried away. He’s a year younger than D’Angelo Russell and has started 520 fewer games.
Pritchard has 14 games started in 5 szns. So that metric doesn’t mean much. In Jerome’s case, he is having his breakout szn. What he did previously (not much) is pretty meaningless. And by win shares he’s twice as valuable as Caris was. Again, the point to all this is that he’s going to get paid this summer.
Pritchard is also not someone who I would give the keys of any first unit to, which is kinda the point.
Win Shares say Jarrett Allen is the most valuable Cav by a wide margin, nobody cares about that. Pritchard is also 2nd on BOS in WS, which should tell you that metric isn’t an indicator of whether a player would produce as a starter.
Jerome will certainly get a raise but he’s looking at McConnell / Pritchard money reflective of his role (7th man, in the 10M range), not 30M starting PG range.
Pritchard ended up signing for a very team friendly deal. Jerome is going to do significantly better than that. I don’t think he’ll get $30M/yr either but that’s also because there won’t be many teams with a lot of cap space.
Pritchard signed his extension before his breakout. You are just overestimating what backups get paid. By definition Jerome is looking at the Mid-Level Exception.
Malik Monk signed for 2/19 (the MLE) in 2022, and then 4/78 (his early bird Max) in 2024.
Coby White got 3/36 as a RFA.
Ayo Dosnumo got 3/21 in RFA.
Gabe Vincent got 3/33 (the MLE) coming off a Finals run as a starter.
As a 28-year-old with a limited track record, the odds of him making MORE than the MLE are slim. Jerome just doesn’t have all that much leverage either. We’ve seen other fringe starters like Dennis Schroder, Tyus Jones, Malik Beasley, Gary Trent Jr, Kelly Oubre Jr, Taurean Prince, etc get squeezed in free agency over the last few years.
Maybe the Cavs will do him a solid and pay him a little extra (ala White), but they also have major tax/repeater concerns with their big four locked in, so I wouldn’t bet on it. He’s probably looking at your 2025 equivalent to Vincent’s contract.
Pretty sure he is an unrestricted FA so some of those comps don’t apply. I’m not saying he’s going to get Hartenstein money but I think he’ll get a deal closer to what KCP got. We’ll see.
I’ve seen Cleveland play about 50 times this year and Ty Jerome has been great. I hope the Cavs can keep him, but if he goes somewhere else, the team that signs him will be getting a tremendous player. He makes winning plays on both ends of the floor.
Toronto suck and tried to get better but no.
Wizards also sucked but were young and promising they traded out old has beens for a couple solid vets and it should only help the development of the young guys on the roster.
If they win the race for Cooper then that’s awesome. Smart and Poole make a real decent backcourt. Experience and youth, offence and defence mix. Cooper, Coulibaly and Middleton with Sarr in the centre as the 6 main men. After that again good mix of talents Bey, George, Champagine and Carrington.
Again sticking with how they’ve rebuilt so far I’d add an experienced centre they’ll be respected. Andre Drummond would be good for that. Especially because they lack size and with him at the 5 your going to get a lot of rebounds.
They could do with another back up guard to partner Bub.
Idk I like they way they are going but it is slow
The Raps are also young though. The cost to aquire BI was cheap, they just need a little luck lottery night now.
Pels need to trade Zion to the highest bidder and rebuild…
He’s not enough to carry a team and may never have a healthier season…
Raptors I don’t like either… A far better move than 2 teams out west made, but still one that is far too risky…
I’m gonna have to mute you for constantly misusing the elipsis. I can’t take it anymore,
Zion had seasons where he played 60 games and 70 games and is currently at the best shape of his career. The saying is buy low, sell high. You never sell low, specially when it looks like Zion is finally taking his conditioning/shape seriously.
That’s exactly my point though…
Trade Zion now whilst it looks like he is serious…
A relapse to his old habits would be the sell low phase…
His stock has never been higher than now when it looks like he is taking things seriously…
The cost was pretty cheap though. Just some expiring vet deals and Indys FRP next year. I like it. It should’ve helped with their tank as they removed more from their roster than they added.
It feels like a 50/50 sideways move… With risk as Ingram doesn’t have a great injury history…
If he turns in 2 healthy seasons and is a good fit with Barnes it’ll be worth it… It’s just risky…
The Raptors sucked by choice this season. They could’ve made a run for a play in spot. With Quickley, Barrett, Dick and Barnes they have a decent core. Now they add a proven veteran scorer in Ingram. This team if they play their cards correctly could challenge the Knicks for the third seed next season.
Embiid is the worst contract in the league. A flopper
who injures himself in his flopping is a person who should be playing in China at best. You get scammed every time you watch him play.
Zion for Embiid?
Sixers start a new era, no more the process.
Maxey McCain Zion
Young and exciting but unfortunately stuck with Paul George I guess.
Pelicans have sucked forever and although with a talent stacked roster still buns. Does a former MVP winner change that?
Murray CJ Trey Herb and Embiid
Solid defenders, good shooters, young and pathetic mixed with experienced. Missi stays and learns from an absolute beast. Hawkins Jose etc they’d still have depth.
Contracts don’t quite match perfectly but Bruce Brown is leaving. Maybe work out a sign and trade to leave Olynyk behind aswell to just tag him into this deal.
Who says no?
I would say yes, but NO would say no
Everyone not in Philly! Nobody is trading for Embiid nobody. Until they solve his knee problem and he proves his health by playing for a sustained period at his old levels his contract is probably the worst in the NBA. This is a dude who cant get healthy, and they have no concrete fix for whos owed 300M, his contract is the definition of untradeable.
Embiid has to play 65+ games a couple seasons in a row for him to have positive value again.
And change everything about his game to have positive value.
Zion > Embiid in terms of play, availability, and contract.
This is the most delusional Sixers trade I have ever seen. Zion’s contract is non-guaranteed and he is 6 years younger. How many picks the Sixers throwing in to get off Embiid?
Bruce Brown isn’t leaving, the Pelicans literally want to re-sign him and he barely has a market otherwise.
Murray has a Torn Achilles, so a miraculously healthy Embiid doesn’t make them a contender anymore than Zion does.
Please do a bare minimum level of research on the teams you’re attempting to make horrendous trades for.
Zion across his NBA career has missed more games than anybody.
Across 6 seasons he played 212 games out of a possible 492. Just over 40%.
Embiid across the last 6 seasons has played 294 games which is just under 60%.
So in terms of availability Joel is actually more often playing than Zion.
In terms of level of play, skill or anything on the court clearly Embiid is better he won an MVP last season almost averaging 35-11-5.
The only edge Zion has, is that his contract is cheaper and that he’s younger.
But sure in less than 12 hours I’ve had 4 people reply being completely wrong that Zion is more active and Embiid needs to change the way he plays …..
Sorry, but your reading comprehension isn’t up to snuff here. Zion’s contract is NON-GUARANTEED. He could suffer a career-altering injury and the team wouldn’t be on the hook for anything.
Embiid (who might already have that career altering injury)? Nope, ALL that 300M stays on the cap.
The past doesn’t matter, because Zion is a better bet to stay healthier from Age 25-29 than Embiid is from Age 31-35.
Zion is on pace to play 33 games this season, and since he played 70 games last season (something Embiid has NEVER done), that would give him 103 GP over the last two seasons. That is nearly DOUBLE the amount of games Embiid has played (58) over the same stretch.
Which big contract are the Nets going to acquire?? Sry but unless Giannis wants out of Milwaukee, and there’s no indication of that, the Nets aren’t trading for headaches and injury cases like Embiid, Zion, Beal or Trae. The slim reaper might be the only big contract that makes any sense in Bklyn and that’s probably a stretch given where they’re at.
They’re more on the Pistons type of track. The Sixers was a bad example. The Nets will be looking to build something, not for a final piece.
If the Bucks lose in the 1st round for the 3rd consecutive season, Giannis is probably requesting out.
If every superstar wanted a trade for not being a top 8 team we’d never have team continuity. It’s his team, he’ll demand they bring in people, not ask to be traded.
The problem is the Bucks CAN’T bring in people. They cashed in all their chips, wasted most of their draft picks, and never developed anyone of note.
Giannis has said he wants to be a Buck, he’s also said he wants to win. One of those statements will be tested this offseason.
They are signing Naz Reid
They should be the main threat.
Trading Zion wouldnt make much sense now, he is at the best shape of his career and arguably playing as good as ever. The Pelicans are losing ON PURPOSE, I think thats pretty evident lol and they have tons of injuries to important players, so I dont see how that is Zion’s fault.
Nets could go after a young FA with upside. Only two I see is Giddey and Kuminga. I wouldn’t overpay for them. I doubt their teams let them walk. With 4 picks in first rd next year. Nets can rebuild quickly. Cam Thomas is a solid third guard to me. Cam Johnson will bring back excellent value in trade next yr. Nets don’t have to rush anything. Just draft well. Trade well.
Zion needs to play well next year to be moved. As soon as he does that. I trade him. Move on …..
Even if there is a good offer at the draft. I seriously consider it. Pelicans could have top pick in draft. I get that. I move Zion. Don’t want him anywhere near Cooper.
Just because they have their own pick doesn’t mean they should tank another whole season. They’ve got a competitive young roster and a coach that’s already building something very positive. With 4 FRPs and a ton of cap space they are more likely to build further momentum so that when a star player becomes available, they’ll be a logical destination.
Just because other teams want the nets to be stupid doesn’t mean they should. If tanking for another season allows them to get better long term pieces, that’s the way to go. Giannis is great but if he wants to be a buck, let him be a buck Naz Reid is an OK player but he’s not franchise altering you don’t force things and if it means you wait until someone someone comes along, who’s worth it, that’s what you do..
Knickerbocker Al is right, shaqfoo, there is no rush, you never let others set your timetable. You set your own. Once the Mikal Bridges trade was made, the nets set their own course. With all the picks and cap space, They hold the cards, not the teams who want to dump their junk on them. Philly wrecked their future by not exercising patience… why should the nets be stupid?