The Brooklyn Nets requested waivers on Drew Timme and Dariq Whitehead Monday afternoon. Everyone knew the team had to whittle down its roster before the regular season begins a week from Wednesday. However,
what chips they’d shave off remained up for contention, until now.
Whitehead was the largest one to hit the deck. As a former first round pick on a standard rookie contract, cutting him loose wouldn’t have been as cost efficient as dropping someone on a partially guaranteed deal like Tyrese Martin or Jalen Wilson. Cutting Whitehead would also mean openly admitting you wasted a first round draft pick. That couldn’t have been easy for a front office that’s made acquiring those a habit and is banking its entire future on the upside of them.
Regardless, Brooklyn opted to move on from the Duke prospect. After suffering multiple leg/foot injuries, leading to three surgeries since the team drafted him in July of 2023, Whitehead never seemed to retain the athletic explosiveness which made him an intriguing prospect at the high school and collegiate levels. He did, however, shoot 44.6% on 3.7 3PAs per game last season, appearing in 20 contests for Brooklyn.
Timme entered this offseason in a opposite situation. After going undrafted in 2023, he bounced around the G-League for a bit before Long Island acquired him. There, he averaged 23.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while shooting 57.4% from the field. The Nets promoted him to their roster near the end of last season. He registered a double-double in his debut and averaged 12.1 points and 7.2 boards in his 12 games as a pro.
Despite following that up with a strong Summer League performance, Timme time could only go on for so long. With the Nets making history by adding five players via the draft this year, they left little-to-no room for secondary prospects such as himself, or even older first rounders, made clear by Whitehead’s release.
With the Nets still at 16 non-tw0-way contracts and needing to reach 15 by Wednesday, they’ll need to waive one more sooner rather than later. The Nets do still have one two-way slot available, which they could offer to Timme. They’ll eat $3.3 million by waiving Whitehead, which puts them just above the minimum salary floor. As of now, they’ll have around $15 million in cap space going into the season, more than any other team.
