I think the team took a step forward and is now an interesting team to watch from an offensive standpoint. We took a step back defensively but retained the same guys mostly, I hoped we would be able to get Watson but it’s quite alright if we don’t.
Wagner and Ellis are two decent players
“Hearing that the first-round picks going to the Clippers in the Kawhi trade are in 2027 and 2029, with a swap in 2030.
Still awaiting full pick details in the Kawhi Leonard deal, but he is heading back to Toronto in a deal involving Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick.”
Source: X
Immediate thoughts: as always the 2027 draft is being used to pad the first round draft capital as it’s not a draft that teams believe are super strong. In reality, the raptors have sent out a first and a swap here and some padded draft capital in 2 seconds and the 2027 pick. Regardless decent haul.
The Clippers are def also targeting the 2029 draft, they now have 3 firsts in that draft (worse between theirs and Philly, Indiana, and now Toronto)
Ayton met with the Pacers and got the max offer sheet after the pacers desperately tried to offer Turner for Ayton, after the Suns kept trying to keep Ayton for around 20 million a year. They caved and the contract aged badly next season.
Ayton and Duren also had similar playstyles and success, idk if yall remember the Valley Oop.
All this to say, I don’t think the Pistons should offer more than 30-35, it feels like it’ll age bad
“The Porzingis extension with Golden State, likely restricts Golden State from having the $15m non tax midlevel exception.
$27M below the first apron and does not include a new contract for Draymond Green.
You can exceed the apron to sign your own players.
Using more than $6.1m of the exception hard caps a team at the first apron.”
From X
“This was their big move as of right now, my understanding is that they’re not involved with Jaylen Brown.”
Blazers are running into the season with Ja, Jrue, Dame and Scoot w/ Sharpe and Avdija.
Claxton salary matches with Randle without having to use cap space, so the Nets have around 42-46 million in cap space heading into free agency to make some moves.
Bring Watson home
MBJ’s measurables:
Height w/o Shoes: 6'3.5"
Weight: 190.2 lbs
Wingspan: 6'7.5"
Standing Reach: 8'4.5"
Hand Size: 8.25" (length) x 9.50" (width)
Verticals: 33.5" (no step) and 39.5" (max)
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq9eVTMaGP8
Stats:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/mikel-brown-jr-1.html
——————————————————————————————
I've seen a good amount of slander on our latest pick and most likely future all star MBJ and I wanted to make this post to have people understand why the conversation was so centered around him and not Acuff or Wagler.
Marks has wanted 3 main things with a new roster built after one focused on iso ball:
MBJ has an unique combination of offensive flare, athleticism, creation, and passing that allows him to act as an offensive engine of a team running while SIMULTANEOUSLY being able to play elite off the ball.
This kid will have no issue launching a 30 foot three and making it, or making that flashy pass. He has a great handle and the ability to act as a secondary creator alongside others. Remember the Nets drafted 5 guards and Egor Demin, Traore is sighting right there as players the Nets want to be able to handle the ball with. The Nets do not have the system or need for a heliocentric player whom the sun revolves around especially with the half court engine which we now have with Randle.
To dumb it down, Wagler’s size and Acuffs offensive upside is a combinatorial of what MBJ has in his personel.
Areas of improvement are the strength and defense but it is statistically showing that he is a rates better defender than Wagler and Acuff and can potentially be a positive defender if he can grow into his body a little more. His measurables are simply some of the best as a guard that we've ever seen.
also cue the U19 American tape where he outplayed Dybantza
Injuries are also an issue but he has been cleared on every level and the Nets should draft for talent at this spot which they correctly did. He will be an amazing fit next to Demin, Traore, Randle, MPJ and Sharpe.
MY CUTIE PATOOTIE
42 (after renouncing current holds) - 10 million roughly from Randle = 32 million going into options
Options:
Sharpe and Williams: 6.25 million
Minott: 2.5 million
Minott is getting picked up, unless we go after a big name wing
Williams I expect to be declined as well as sharpe, and their cap holds resulting from that (11 million) to be renounced as well.
32 + 12 =44
If not and they keep the holds
32 - 22 =10
In any case, we are out on reaves unless we let go of Sharpe, who this Randle is move is to move into the starting lineup for.
I still see no reason for them not to decline and renounce the holds, as there’s more than enough cap space with 44 million to target Eason/Watson and give Sharpe the raise. Marks also notes it’s fluid and that’s because they can do some permutation of this. Pick up sharpes option and decline/renounce Williams would leave us w 32 million on the dot.
Nets - Randle and 28
Bulls - Claxton
Wolves - 33
Bulls absorb Claxton for cap space
Notes:
- nets move up 5 spots into a strong first round, because of NIL the second round was significantly weaker than latter end of first round. Likely a target to Jayden quaintance
- floor raising move and allows us to move sharpe to the starting lineup. MPJ, Randle, and potentially MBJ on the transition will be nasty with demin as the glue
- nets operating w around 31 million ish going into decisions on team options
Grade: B
Wonder how much of this was also to increase buzz around the nets because of the Knicks
as always here is the nets cap sheet:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/BRK.html
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/overview/_/year/2026/sort/cap_total
below is my piece (from another post) on how nets cap space will work this offseason:
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Calculate total cap space including team options by taking your net space (including team options) and adding your cap hold:
-1.33 million + 43.3 million = 42 million roughly
Nets have 42 million accepting team options on everybody. If they decline any team options, multiply their previous year salaries by 190 percent and add it as a negative.
Let's say the Nets decline team options on Sharpe and Williams, their cap hold are now 11.9 million each
42 + (6.25*2) - (11.9 *2) = 30 million now in cap space.
If they renounce Sharpe and Williams from their holds, they can't exceed the salary cap to resign them, but now they would have 54.5 million.
There are two players who aren't entirely necessary to the Nets taking up significant cap space, Claxton and Mann.
Mann I do not expect can be traded as his contract is way too large for his production, but Claxton can.
There are three teams with cap space that can absorb Claxton and are Likely to target him:
Lakers (54.5 million in cap space projected)
Clippers (70 million in cap space projected)
Celtics (27.7 million trade exception)
https://www.reddit.com/r/NBAtradeideas/comments/1oc36su/2026_cap_space_projections_1_wizards_809m_2/
^ all teams with projected significant cap space
Clearing his salary adds 23.3 million to the books.
The nets can have up to 78 million dollars in cap space so they choose if they make all the moves above or as little as 30.
I expect them to operate with 54.5."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I now expect them to decline a team option on both sharpe and williams, and renounce both, resigning sharpe. All signs have been pointing towards sharpe getting a raise
Some additional assumptions i have based on reporting:
- we will be absorbing ONE sizable contract this offseason with some draft capital
- we will NOT extend MPJ (i dont see a trade happening though)
- we will make a moderate signing in free agency
- there will not be a claxton trade at this point
lets start
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Trade: absorb Jovic and the 21st pick (16.2 cap hit) within giannis trade
Draft: Mikel Brown JR. (cap hit 8 million dollars)
targets at 21: Isaiah evans, cameron carr (3 million) (we draft Carr for example)
^We did a similar trade with Mann with a similar contract and aav, made sense within the wider context of the giannis trade thats been being thrown around. Jovic is a 6'10 wing that has tools to be a up and down threat and he's playable around the 4 behind clowney
total cap space (42 + 6.25 + 6.25 - 16.2 = 38.3) (renounce both, we cannot go over cap space to sign sharpe) (we accepted Minott
we can add two rookies later
sign tari eason 4 years 100 million:
^ Do not think we're landing watson, and eason is kind of the back up i have here, when i looked through internet this is a rough number i think it would take to get the rockets to fold. (AS PER HOLLINGER) good 3 and d wing complementing the bench or starting unit
resign sharpe 3 years 36 million, team option 3rd
^ feel good raise of the offseason, he's earned it
not many strong free agents here that i feel good about signing.
we are slightly negative into cap now after signing the rooks, -12 million but FAR FAR under the tax and aprons
15 players
depth chart:
PG: MBJ, Traore, Saraf
SG: MPJ, Powell, Mann
SF: Demin, Carr, Minott
PF: Eason, Clowney, Jovic
C: Claxton, Sharpe, Wolf
expect saraf, mann, jovic, and wolf to be at the end of rotation
Still bad but we got sum nice flexible offense and rotational positionality, and its a realistic approach to the offseason
*I dont know why eason got added twice mb
Leaving out any personal opinions about other prospects like ament and mara, objectively for the nets when you look at the type of player you should get w a 6th pick, it’s between these two firmly. Out of the 4 guard prospects from 5-8, these guys have the highest ceilings offensively and MBJ has more defensive range with his build, while having more injury questions. Acuff would revitalize the Nets offense for years to come.
If Sean messes this up…
First of all, let's hear it for the San Antonio KNICKS. I had my doubts that they could get back up after that long grueling series against the Oklahoma City CAVALIERS, but all in all, we all should have known better than to doubt the 7'6 JALEN BRUNSON. I know I didn't doubt them for a second.
The NBA draft is the greatest television event of the year. You know it used to be that the draft was fun because you were watching these kids essentially become generationally wealthy and be happy for them, but now with NIL money, the draft is just guys putting on hats one at a time for about 3 hours. And the even better part is that hat isn't even necessarily the team they will be playing for.
"But pop" you whimper, riding your skateboard "how can i enjoy the greatest television event of the summer if I haven't watched any of the teens play basketball?"
No son, stop whimpering. I have good news, you don't need to know anything about any of these young people to judge them harshly in online forums. All you need to do is to follow my simple guide.
1. Either Darryn Peterson or Cam Boozer is your top player in the draft now.
Sure, AJ Dybantsa will most likely go first overall but you don't care about him. It's either Cam Boozer or Darryn Peterson. Don't be afraid to get hyperbolic with it. "Darryn Peterson is the best prospect I've ever seen" "Cam Boozer invented the polio vaccine" go nuts with it.
2. You now hate Nate Ament on a deeply personal Level
Before we continue, it's important to know this: Nate Ament is the worst basketball player you've ever seen now. The most obvious bust. Soft, doesn't return the shopping cart at the grocery store, killed your parents. You hate him. he'll never make it in the nba. It's literally impossible for him to grow into his frame. No one has ever grown.
note: If he is drafted by the Thunder or Spurs, it's a great pick and you called that he was going to be a star the whole time
3. Develop a strong affection for one of the following guards: Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemmings, Keaton Wagler, Labaron Phylon or Mikel Brown Jr
Choosing your favorite guard in this draft is like choosing your pokemon starter. You don't need a good reason to do it, you can just pick the one you think looks the prettiest. In fact, you should pick the guard you think looks the prettiest.
4. Develop a strong opinion on at least one of the three Michigan Prospects
It can be either positive or negative but you have to be loud about it. "Aday Mara isnt good he's just tall!" is a good one. "Yaxel would be number 1 if he was 20 years old!" is another good one. But you can mix and match. I don't think people will agree with any criticism of Morez johnson but i'm sure if you're loud enough you will be able to win the argument anyway.
5. Go to a mock draft and pick anyone who's 22 or older and just start hyping them up as your "Sleeper of the draft"
Note: It can't be Yaxel Lendeborg. you gotta pick a different senior. basically everyone who was going to be picked in the 20s who weren't seniors went back to school, but you get to overhype this draft class nonetheless so just pick a senior. talk about how you "can't teach feel for the game" or "took him a bit but he found his way." what those words mean? nobody knows but you should still say it nonetheless.
6. Any trade you ever see in any mock draft is dumb and infuriates you
The thought that x team would trade down is offensive and dumb and you hate it. No matter what. In fact, every trade anyone ever proposes is bad and not fun and you should treat it with deadly seriousness. You know the exact value of a 2028 pick swap and it's either wayy tooo much or definitely not enough for that trade to work. No matter what you should be mad about the trade.
7. You Either exclusively talk about Darius Acuff/AJ Dybantsa's defense or you never bring it up.
These two are both all time bad defenders. Acuff is quite literally the worst defender you may ever see in high level play. If you didn't pick Acuff as your guy earlier among those guards, you should only talk about his defense. JigglyPuff with AJ Dybantsa, if you want to commit to hating the guy bring up his defense. if not compare him to T Mac. Bonus points if you want to hate on AJ but love Darius you can say "why don't we ever bring up AJ's defense?" and find your people.
8. Don't Actually watch the draft
No need to honestly, just scroll by new here or check one of the reporter twitter accounts. You can go have an actual fun day or play Mina the Hollower with occasional breaks to yell at dudes on reddit, and you'll have a much better Tuesday.
All the trade machines were ass and not fully updated so decided to just write it out.
Bucks receive:
- Jerami Grant
- Shaedon Sharpe
- Scoot Henderson or Yansen Hang
- #17
- swaps reversed in 2028 and 2030 from trailblazers
- 2029 own first
- 2031 Celtics first round pick
Celtics receive:
- Giannis
Blazers receive:
- Jaylen Brown
Thunder receive:
- 2028 Orlando first round pick (lottery protected)
Let me get the inclusion of the thunder out of the way first.
The thunder are widely known to either have to trade up or move one of the first round picks that they want due to cap hits while they navigate the second apron. I used a Kings trade from 2025 where they sent a protected spurs first rounder in 2027 to acquire a pick from the Thunder lol. They just push a first.
The Celtics trade Brown and a first straight up for Giannis. Giannis is miles better than Brown and I think every Celtic fan I know was ok with this package taking influence from the Luka trade.
The blazers upgrade their wing slot and send some picks for a star upgrade at the wing. The bucks picks and a protected first in 2028 for Brown to pair with Avdija.
The bucks land a second first in 2026, a first in 2031 and all of their own picks back from the dame trade. Sharpe is an exciting scoring wing, and bucks fans yall choose between sharpe and yang. I think one of those two would be included.
Thoughts?
From the trade deadline there were 3 teams that were in advanced discussions for Giannis:
Warriors
Heat
Timberwolves
Warriors package:
Jimmy Butler
Kuminga
Additional young player
2026 first
2028 first
2030 first (protected 21-30)
2032 first
Potential swap in 2031
^ this package was outright REJECTED and warriors are out on Giannis as their package cannot improve and has gotten worse with Kuminga now gone.
Heat package
Tyler Herro
Jaime Jaquez
Kelel ware
Salary filler
2030 first
2032 first
^ we know that this package was rejected and now has Improved With the inclusion of the 13th pick in the draft.
Wolves package (predicted, ambiguous as to what it really was)
Jaden Mcdaniels
Julius Randle
Joan Beringer
2032 swap
* players here were likely to be sent out to third and fourth teams to accumulate more picks
^ the wolves are now OUT on Giannis
Only remaining team from deadline, and the most likely team for Giannis is now the Heat. Additionally, the Celtics have now landed themselves as the rival partner as the Heat cannot close a deal😂
Celtics package
Jaylen Brown (rerouted to Clippers as per latest reporting, Hawks from previous reporting)
-> to Bucks from clippers
5th pick
Salary filler (likely Kawhi)
Additional draft capital
-> to Bucks from hawks
Kuminga
Risacher
Kispert
#8
Additional draft capital
Heat updated package
Tyler Herro
Kelel ware
Jaime Jaquez
13
2030 first
2032 first
Swaps likely in 2031 and 2033
These two teams (Heat and Celtics are likely to have Giannis before the draft). I’d have to say Celtics but Heat are most likely as per everything so far
UNLIKELY ONE: PORTLAND
trailblazers have an offer centered around bucks picks. Reporting has stated GIANNIS WOULD NOT SIGN AN EXTENSION IN PORTLAND but it would be interesting to see if they are involved in some capacity.
Blazers package reportedly
Jerami Grant
2 of (
Scoot Henderson
Donovan clingan
Shaedon sharpe
Yang Hansen
)
2028 2030 bucks swaps cancelled
2029 bucks first back
No team is taking this contract on without at least 2 first round picks that are either in lottery or have lottery upside.
On top of that you want MPJ, who’s one of the better offensive players in the NBA and a seamless fit next to Castle, Fox and Wemby at the 3.
It’s an abhorrence and blasphemous to even think we would consider it lol, yall can be stuck w that contract. It’s an awful trade to consider.
Mara is expected to be the first center off the board and appears slated for the 8-to-12 range. There is strong interest in him, with Atlanta, Dallas, Golden State and Oklahoma City among the teams noted, and he could ultimately be a player teams trade up to acquire.
Rival teams say the Thunder have been active in exploring various trade options, including moving up in the lottery. Most expect them to find a way to consolidate, as they work to improve a crowded roster, also holding the No. 17 pick, movable future assets, and quality depth to help facilitate deals. There's some thought that the Thunder will prioritize deepening their frontline in the aftermath of their seven-game series with the Spurs.
For those who need to see it,
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/cap/_/year/2026
Calculate total cap space including team options by taking your net space (including team options) and adding your cap hold:
-1.33 million + 43.3 million = 42 million roughly
Nets have 42 million accepting team options on everybody. If they decline any team options, multiply their previous year salaries by 190 percent and add it as a negative.
Let's say the Nets decline team options on Sharpe and Williams, their cap hold are now 11.9 million each
42 + (6.25*2) - (11.9 *2) = 30 million now in cap space.
If they renounce Sharpe and Williams from their holds, they can't exceed the salary cap to resign them, but now they would have 54.5 million.
There are two players who aren't entirely necessary to the Nets taking up significant cap space, Claxton and Mann.
Mann I do not expect can be traded as his contract is way too large for his production, but Claxton can.
There are three teams with cap space that can absorb Claxton and are Likely to target him:
Lakers (54.5 million in cap space projected)
Clippers (70 million in cap space projected)
Celtics (27.7 million trade exception)
^ all teams with projected significant cap space
Clearing his salary adds 23.3 million to the books.
The nets can have up to 78 million dollars in cap space so they choose if they make all the moves above or as little as 30.
I expect them to operate with 54.5.