Over the past few days, several players from the Brooklyn Nets’ 2025-26 squad have found new homes, specifically forwards Jalen Wilson, Ziaire Williams, two-way guard Tyson Etienne, and Trevon Scott, a forward who had two 10-day contracts with the team to close out the year.
It is of course not unusual for a team in the rebuild phase following a season where the team won 20 games and had an overhaul that included three new draft picks, a big trade and a couple of free agent signings.
According to HoopsHype’s
Michael Scotto, Wilson is the latest. He is signing a two-way contract with the Atlanta Hawks for the 2026-27 season after his team option was declined by Brooklyn earlier this offseason.
Wilson, 25, was selected by the Nets with the 51st overall selection in the 2023 NBA draft, after Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney were selected with back-to-back picks (Nos. 21 and 22 overall).
Throughout his three seasons with the Nets, he played a significant amount of minutes in the NBA for a second-round selection and even led the team in minutes during the 2024-25 season.
Overall, he appeared in 176 NBA games for Brooklyn (27 starts) while averaging 7.4 points, 1.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 40.1% from the field and 34% from beyond the arc.
His primary limitation is his lack of athleticism. Standing at 6’6”, he has not logged a single dunk in his NBA career. For someone his size, that’s unacceptable.
Ultimately, the Kansas product gets another NBA opportunity on a two-way contract with Atlanta.
Williams, who like Wilson, is 24, wasn’t renewed by the Nets at the end of June. He had a $6.3 million team option that the Nets declined to exercise. A native of Southern California and a Stanford produce, the signing with the Lakers is a homecoming.
The contract is a one-year, vets minimum.
Williams was acquired by Brooklyn in July 2024, a couple of weeks after they had traded Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for five firsts but also Bojan Bogdanovic and the non-guaranteed contract of Mamadi Diakite. The Nets used that contract in a salary dump that brought them Williams and a future second rounder from the Grizzlies.
The former No. 10 pick had been a disappointment in Memphis but to a large extent rehabilitated his reputation during his two years in Brooklyn, finishing with a career high 10.2 points and 1.4 steals in 22.9 minutes last season. In his two years, Williams played 119 games for the Nets, 58 of that starts. Although he had flashes, particulary on defense, he had issues with inconsistency and early last season it led to him getting a DNP for a game.
Williams is one of a number of short-term signings for Lakers this off-season. After losing LeBron James, they’re currently building around Luka Doncic and newly re-signed Austin Reaves.
Unlike Wilson and Williams, Etienne and Scott are packing their bags and heading overseas.
Etienne, 26, has signed with Paris Basketball in France, his agency first announced, while Scott is going to Germany to play for the Bamberg Baskets as we first reported.
As we reported, the Nets didn’t extend a qualifying offer to Etienne in June, losing his restricted free agency rights at the time.
He has spent the past two years in Brooklyn’s organization, appearing in 31 games while also becoming the Long Island Nets’ all-time leading scorer (their G-League affiliate).
Throughout 24 NBA games last year (two starts), Etienne knocked down 39.8% of his 3-point tries while averaging 7.9 points, 1.7 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 15.8 minutes.
Both Etienne and Wilson had been praised for their leadership and high character, something the Nets’ organization deeply values in its players.
As for Scott, who’s entering his age-30 season, going overseas makes the most sense. It was highly unlikely that he would earn an NBA contract or a two-way this season, and the money overseas is largely better than the sub-$50,000 standard G-League players make per year.
In six games with the Nets last year (four starts), he averaged eight points, 2.0 stocks, 1.7 assists and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 38% from the field and 31.6% from 3-point range.
All three now begin the next chapter of their basketball career, albeit on very different paths.
Previously, E.J. Liddell, who had a short stint as a Nets two-way, had agreed to sign with Aris Thessaloniki of the Greek Basketball League. Of the Nets end-of-season roster, only Malachi Smith, waived earlier this month, has yet to find a home
