Mikal Bridges lobbies top free agent to remain with Nets

Cameron Johnson will be one of the top names on the free-agent market and long-time teammate Mikal Bridges is urging him to stay with the Brooklyn Nets, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

Johnson and Bridges have been together since Johnson was drafted in 2019 by Phoenix, where they were nicknamed “The Twins” because of their close friendship. They spent three-and-a-half years as Suns teammates before both being shipped to Brooklyn in February as part of the Kevin Durant trade.

“I just know a lot of people probably want him on different teams,” Bridges said. “I just tell him, I’ll just be like ‘I know money and this and that, but just know where I want you. And you can’t leave your Twin!’ But he knows. He knows that I never want him to go. And I hope that he stays and they offer him a really good deal. Get my boy paid and go from there.”

Johnson will be a restricted free agent upcoming, so the Nets will be able to match any offer he receives. They can’t talk to him about a new contract until the official start of free agency at 6 p.m. ET on Friday. General manager Sean Marks told Lewis on draft night that he’s hoping to reach an agreement with Johnson before he meets with any other teams.

“I think it’s one of those things that maybe … we should expect the unexpected,” Marks said. “Things happen all the time in this. We’ll be prepared for that. Cam knows how we feel about him. We hope he’s a Net and so we’ll just have to sort of play it all out. … I think we’ve got a nice young group and he can see how this group has a chance to do something special here and do something special in Brooklyn.”

There’s more from Brooklyn:

• The Nets weren’t afraid to gamble on Dariq Whitehead with their 22nd pick on Thursday, even though he underwent a second surgery on his right foot in May, per Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Whitehead was considered one of the top prospects in the nation heading into his freshman season at Duke and the 18-year-old is confident that he can eventually get past his physical issues. “I think I can definitely get back to that guy who I was,” Whitehead said. “I feel like people definitely from last year, they tend to think that I’m not athletic, and that was due to me pretty much playing on one leg. But I feel like I can definitely show the athletic part, and then really my playmaking.” 
• The Nets selected a pair of teenagers in the first round in Whitehead and Noah Clowney, but Marks said that is not an indication that the team is focused on rebuilding, rather than winning right away, relays Ian Beglay of SNY.tv.
• Nikola Milutinov, whose draft rights the Nets acquired in a 2021 trade, has signed a two-year contract with Olympiakos, according to Dario Skerletic of Sportando. The 28-year-old center spent the past three seasons with CSKA Moscow.