Brian Lewis of the New York Post report The Brooklyn Nets: [a] The Nets have adopted a “short-term rebuild strategy” after trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks and acquiring the rights to their next two draft picks from the Houston Rockets, but this won't be the last move that ensures the Nets don't win many games next year.
Of course, it's too early to plot a rebuild strategy given the Nets have only been on the road to a rebuild for less than a week — for now, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith are still on the roster — but Lewis suggested Brooklyn wants to take advantage of the massive amount of cap space they will have available next summer.
The shortcut to that path would be for them to continue down the path they're on now, use the 16 first-round picks they acquired on Marks and spend a whopping $80 million in cap space for 2025 after the contracts of Ben Simmons, Bojan Bogdanovic and Dennis Schroder expire next summer.
And he points to the Houston Rockets' moves last summer to sign Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks (while actively courting Brook Lopez) after a three-year struggle following the James Harden trade you may have heard about. Those moves didn't catapult Houston into championship contender status, but the Rockets are in contention for a play-in tournament spot in 2024 and the “let's lose a lot” part of the rebuild is certainly over.
Lewis also took aim at some of the rumors that have surfaced since Brooklyn decided to rebuild.
Whatever rumors are circulating, don't expect the Nets to move Simmons on a long-term, unprofitable contract (like Zach LaVine) this summer. And forget about any rumors of a reunion with D'Angelo Russell. It's unlikely.
The key takeaway here is that Lewis reports that neither Sean Marks nor Joe Tsai have revealed their hand “publicly or privately,” and that this report is based on conversations with agents and executives around the league. Such a message coming from Brooklyn itself could be an attempt to assure fans that they're keeping their hand, but… inhale It may be too long, but outside information can have a greater impact.
“Markets matter, and Brooklyn would be unwise not to take advantage of every opportunity next summer,” Lewis said.
There are still many player and team options to be decided, trades to be made and basketball to be played in next summer's free agent class, but Lauri Markkanen, Jimmy Butler and Donovan Mitchell are potential names to watch.
(For those wondering how free agency has changed since 2019, when the Brooklyn Nets last had a wild time, you're right! As of yesterday, Paul George and the aforementioned VanVleet are the only free agents to sign max contracts and change teams in the past five years.)
But before we get too ahead of ourselves, Sean Marks & Co. has some business to attend to, and Lewis gives us the details.
What Marks does over the next week or so of free agency will clarify his and Tsai's plans. It's entirely possible that a veteran like Cam Johnson or Dorian Finney-Smith could be moved, but who they move for — or, more importantly, the length of the contract they return on — should tell the tale.
I think it's a bit foolish to decide to rebuild when they haven't even acquired a long-term player like Bojan Bogdanovic, forget about where they'll be drafting next season, and we don't even know if Noah Clowney is good yet!
Lewis has reiterated that this is a mindset across the NBA, not necessarily within Brooklyn, but still, it wouldn't be surprising if the Nets were caught up in free agency rumors some 364 days from now.
The reason the Nets traded Bridges was simply a confluence of events — their inability to pair him with an All-Star like Mitchell and Bridges' desire to leave the team and join the Knicks — that a major rebuild was never a priority, but rather a change of direction.
The smart pivot would be to look ahead to 2025. And the league is counting on that.
