Bruce Brown reaches starter’s criteria; his qualifying offer increases

Bruce Brown has reached the starter’s criteria in his contract, jumping his qualifying offer from $2.1 million to $4.7 million, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.

Brown made his 26th start for the Nets on Friday against his former team, the Pistons. He started 43 of 58 games for Detroit last season.

The starter criteria require a restricted free agent-to-be to start at least half of his team’s games in the two seasons leading up to his free agency.

This makes Brooklyn’s decision on whether to extend the qualifying offer to Brown a little trickier, considering its luxury-tax bill considerations. It would still be a surprise if the Nets choose not to extend the qualifying offer, considering how valuable Brown has been this season. He’s averaging 8.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.4 APG and is a stout one-on-one defender for a team with a wealth of scoring options when at full strength.

After being a second-round selection by Detroit in 2018, Brown quickly jumped into the starting five as a rookie.