While fans in Philadelphia and New York prepare for what looks like a classic Eastern Conference playoff series this week, Brooklyn fans will be looking forward to next Sunday’s NBA Lottery in Chicago. Their third worst record gives them a 14.0% shot at the overall No. 1, a 52.1% shot at a top four pick … a 14.8% at No. 5, a 26.0% at the No. 6 and (ugh) 7.0% at No. 7.
There is mystery, of course, not just about where the Nets will pick after the nationally televised (ESPN) selection process but how
they see the top seven candidates. It is as closely held a “state secret” as there is at the HSS Training Center.
Anyone who watched the SCOUT docu-series last summer could see just how secret: every screen from the team’s big board to the scouts’ computers at HSS Training Center was scrubbed — fuzzed out — before it aired. And it is not above Sean Marks & co. to engage in a disinformation campaign. While most pundits thought Brooklyn had its eyes on Khaman Maluach at No. 8 last June, the Nets instead were focused on Egor Demin. Indeed, as some video from the Hornets war room showed, Charlotte execs, several of them former Nets staffers, were shocked that Brooklyn had passed on Maluach who they had coveted. (How’d that work out?)
This year, a number of pundits like Cam Boozer of Duke, as we noted earlier in the week. One even called him the “perfect Net,” with his fundamental skillset, maturity and leadership potential. Any comparison with Tim Duncan is going to get Marks’ attention considering how much he reveres his former Spurs teammate. Many may see Boozer as boring, but a lot of people saw Duncan that way too … as he won five NBA championships.
Any of the top four — Boozer, A.J. Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Caleb Wilson — would fill a Nets need either in the short term, long term or both. After that, the Nets would likely have a choice of guards who would duplicate skillsets of the young players already on the roster — Kingston Flemings, Mikel Brown, Keaton Wagler and Darius Acuff. Draftniks have opined that teams picking between Nos. 5 and 8 are likely to have a difficult time sorting them out.
Do we even know who the Nets have brought in for workouts and interviews? Nope. That’s not going to be public either. (One thing to spy if you want more info: who the 76ers and Knicks are working out. Agents often arrange workout schedules to take advantage of geography, save time and money.)
One thing we think we can plan for next Sunday, the dreaded commercial break at the Lottery. Normally, ESPN lets deputy GM Mark Tatum call out picks Nos. 14 through 5 before going to commercial. Assuming the Nets have enough luck to avoid falling to Nos. 6 or 7, that break will test our patience before the big moment.
Possibly, we will know more by the end of the week? Likely not. Know this, though: once the Lottery is done, no matter how things work out, things will change. Would Nets try to move up? One NBA decision-maker says tells NetsDaily he thinks that with all their assets, Brooklyn has a shot at moving up a couple of slots. They tried last year, but a number of potential trade partners wanted the 2026 first which the Nets had no interest in trading. Would they try to get a second first? They might, again using their assets. But any move like those won’t likely happen till closer to the Draft.
Another league source noted to ND this week the bottom line: “Man, they have a lot of options.” As one player in the Nets Draft War, Simone Casali, the director of international scouting, told an Italian interviewer 18 months ago that Draft Night can be quite intense.
“In the NBA, a lot can change from one moment to the next, I cannot know when we will have a choice available and how high,” said Casali whose overall interview is quite revelatory about scouting culture. “It can happen, for example, that on the night of the Draft you suddenly find yourself with choices available as a result of a trade: you cannot afford to improvise. Scouting always follows the same rules, the same attention to detail.”
We still have six weeks till the Draft, of course. In the meantime, we can only wait and pray.
Early Free Agency Rumors
What about free agency? That same anonymous league source who spoke about options told us that while he loves the Nets current situation, he wonders how they will transition from rebuild to build. He can recite all the team’s assets an added that the tanking reforms are yet another positive for them.
“The league getting rid of tanking in some ways has really helped them but also is going to cause them to have to quickly pivot in terms of their day to day,” he said. “They have to play to win, but I don’t know if they know how to do that.”
It wasn’t so much a criticism of Marks, Tsai, etc.‘s ability to get things done but rather how big they want to go and how soon. “I don’t understand how they don’t see Giannis or Kawhi as their big swing … shoot even bring KD back to finish his career.”
Moving on any of those 30+ superstars would be risky and at this point, fans seemed to be patient (enough) to continue the organic rebuild. Barclays Center attendance numbers seem to reflect that with the arena selling out 99.2% of capacity over 41 home dates. (We can’t speak to the TV ratings. They’re not public, but are almost assuredly ugly. We will find out soon enough.)
Bringing back the soon-to-be 38-year-old Kevin Durant would create headlines and with some well-crafted P.R. engender nostalgia for what might have been. There are people in the organization who’d like to see him back, citing how he changed the franchise culture his first time around. Remember the good times! There are others, however, who are not so enamored of a reunion, recalling his ugly exit, criticism of teammates, lack of leadership particularly re his superstar teammates, and his push for short term solutions whether it was advocating for DeAndre Jordan over Jarrett Allen, signing short-term fixes, demanding front office firings, pushing his business partner Rich Kleiman for a top job or demanding Ime Udoka be hired as head coach despite his suspension from the Celtics. Did we miss anything? Probably.
How does KD, who did average 26/6/5 on near 50/40/90 shooting, feel about a reunion? We don’t know but things are not good in Houston. After missing only four games in the regular season, he sat on the bench in all but one game of Houston’s first round flameout due to a nagging ankle injury. He is simply not that popular in Texas. Many Rocket fans see him as a “mercenary” after his stays in OKC, Golden State, Brooklyn, Phoenix and now Houston. He has also gotten beyond the first round only once leaving New York. The scandal surrounding his burner comments re his young Houston teammates never got resolved and again, his leadership got questioned. He will be meeting soon with Rockets brass about his now uncertain future.
He did have provide some comments in 2024 and 2025 expressing his love of the franchise (that he helped blow up) …
Sounds nice.
What might a reunion cost the Nets … beyond psychically? He is owed $44 million next season, then has a $46 million player option in 2027-28 at age 39. Acquiring him would almost certainly require the Nets to give up Michael Porter Jr. who will be an expiring at $41 million next season. Would Brooklyn be required to add picks? Or would they require some in return?
Bottom line: the KD reunion may sound intriguing, but without polling fans, it seems from social media that the base is more “been there, done that,” than “welcome home.” He is still a great player but exhausting.
Beyond the choice between going for a superstar or building organically through the draft, there is the intriguing third path, adding a young piece who might not be a superstar but damn good and did we say young? We’re talking about 6’8” 23-year-old Peyton Watson of the Denver Nuggets. Jake Fischer wrote this week what fans have known: that the Nets along with the at least the Lakers and Bulls have interest. He averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game on 41.1% shooting.
He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer, the Nugs having decided last summer to sign Christian Braun to a five-year, $125 million deal instead of him. Part of the windfall for Braun came from money the Kroeneke family saved by trading Michael Porter Jr and an unprotected first in 2032 for Cam Johnson. Ironic much?
Fischer wrote a lot about the Nuggets quandary in keeping him. To avoid the pain of the second apron, the most likely scenario has them dealing CamJ away to make room for a big deal for Watson. Easier said than done. Johnson is 30 and hasn’t played 60 games in any of the past four seasons. Still, that could help Denver avoid a Nets offer sheet that could 1) contain poison pills the Nuggets might not want to swallow or 2) begin talks on a sign-and-trade at a disadvantage. That speculation is all well and good, but this weekend saw something easier to digest than CBA provisions… an exchange between Watson and MP….
Well now! The two players are known to be close from the time when Porter mentored a young Watson and as he told N3ON this weekend, MPJ thinks Brooklyn is going to get better soon. We are always a bit skeptical of how friendships affect free agency. Money usually talks loudest but the Nets have, as our source noted, a number of options.
Expect to hear other names, of course. Free agency is even further away than the Draft. It opens June 30.
Who’s in charge here?
By the way, if you are wondering who makes the final decision on big things like trades, signings and picks, whether it’s the GM or owner, Sean Marks shed some light about how that process works on a podcast with Boki Nachbar and Ric Bucher. Their Fullcourt Passport, is focused on the NBA’s wider world, Read closer and you can see that while Joe Tsai and Mikhail Prokhorov had “advised,” “helped” and “influenced” him over his tenure, he’s the guy.
“Having two different owners in my time in Brooklyn, obviously from my current owner, Joe Tsai, to our previous Russian owner (Mikhail Prokhorov),” Marks began. “I always ask those guys their advice, their help. I mean these guys are doing multi-billion dollars deals and I’m doing trades with guys who will a half million bucks or three million dollars or five million dollars.
“It’s still their baby and I want to make sure … how they can influence me in my negotiating skills or what have you. I’d be a fool not to involve them. They’ve come from a completely different backgrounds but also to empower them to understand why we’re doing to these deals and what it means down the road. I’m very fortunate in that regard.”
Of course, the owner and GM talk near daily even if the owner is flying over the Pacific a lot of the time and in the case of the Draft, the owner will be in the room.
Draft Sleeper of the Week
We love having a high second rounder, particularly in a deep draft. Teams are not required to give second round picks a guaranteed deal. Often, as the Nets did in the case of No. 31 pick Nic Claxton in 2019, they will, generally agreeing to a deal near or at the level of the last pick in the first round. This year. per Salary Swish, that would amount to roughly $3 million.
The Nets currently hold two picks in the second round, their own at No. 33, thanks to the tank, and the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 43, a product of last year’s trade of the No. 36 pick — part of the Mikal Bridges trade — to the Phoenix Suns for two future seconds. (The Suns later sent the 36th pick to the Lakers who chose Adou Thiero.)
Assuming the Nets keep the picks and assuming they follow their recent history, they’re likely to sign the 33rd pick to a standard deal and the 43rd to a two-way. One prospect we have been intrigued by at the top of the second is Joshua Jefferson, a 6’9”, 240-pound point forward out of Iowa State who in our most recent mock draft update has been ;inked to the Nets by two outlets, the Athletic and NBADraft.net. (It should be noted, however, in the weeks since those mocks, JJ has moved up quickly, now being touted at No. 25 by Tankathon.)
Although a little older than most prospects at 23 years old, he would seem to fit neatly into Jordi Fernandez’s position-less system. Here’s what NBADraft.net wrote of him recently.
One of the most statistically unique players in the country, becoming the only player nationally (and first in Big 12 history) to post 450+ points, 250+ rebounds, 100+ assists, 70+ steals, and 25+ blocks in a single season … Strong basketball background with family ties to high-level football … Known for toughness, IQ, and all-around production.
And here’s some highlights as well…
Does scream Nets to us.
Summer Games
We love the idea of playing in two summer leagues. The Nets announced this week that before the Las Vegas Summer League which runs between July 9 and July 19, in which the Nets will play a minimum of five games, they will also be in Sacramento at the Garden 1 Center for three games on July 4, 5 and 6. So that’s eight games in 15 days, a mid-season schedule for the NBA.
There’s a lot of good reasons for double duty. The Nets will have seven players on rookie deals next year, Noah Clowney, the Flatbush 5 and the lottery pick plus maybe a second rounder as well as the three rookies who played this year without a standard deal: Chaney Johnson, Malachi Smith and Grant Nelson who of whom are likely to be available plus two-ways E.J. Liddell and Tyson Etienne etc.
Final Note
We hear Mr. Whammy, aka Bruce Reznick, is all set for his debut at the Nets lucky charm at the Draft Lottery next Sunday. He and his grandson will be taking the train to Chicago we are told — he is 90 — and on arrival will be treated as a guest of honor by the Nets. As we’ve noted Whammy can’t sit on the dias. League rules, you know, but he will be in the audience, presumably hexing away. We don’t yet know who will be sitting on the dias, but we expect to know sometime mid-week. Good luck to all.
Next week, we expect our report will be late. We will either be celebrating or lamenting.
