Two Nets Ranked Among Best Upcoming NBA Free Agents

The Brooklyn Nets will be the most important team in this year’s free agency. 

The Nets are the only team in the NBA with substantial cap space right now. The Athletic’s John Hollinger, a former vice president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, writes that “the rebuilding Nets seem more likely to use it to absorb bad salary (in exchange for draft picks) than to make some big splurge on another team’s third-best player.” He warns that free agency on the player side will be competitive given this lack of cap space for teams around the league.

The Nets have two players in Hollinger’s ranking of the top 25 free agents for the upcoming offseason. D’Angelo Russell (unrestricted) comes in at No. 12, immediately followed by Cam Thomas (restricted) at No. 13. Both lead the tier titled “at least midlevel exception, maybe more”

Russell averaged 12.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and two turnovers on 36.7/29.7/82.6 shooting splits in 29 games for Brooklyn this season. He was traded to the Nets on Dec. 29 from the Los Angeles Lakers for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. This was his second stint on the team, following 129 games between 2017 and 2019. This included Russell’s first and only All-Star selection so far.

“The last few summers have been very busy for me,” Russell previously said. “A lot of ‘what’s next,’ ‘hurry up and wait,’ things like that. I’m just trying to reset. [...] Free agency and all that is gonna happen at some point. Not really [dwelling] on it until it does.” 

Holinger brings up the possibility of the Nets signing Russell to a “bloated one-year deal with a non-guaranteed second year, one that would effectively operate as a trade exception to use in-season or even next summer” if they struggle to use their cap space elsewhere. The Nets point guard turns 30 next February.

Thomas’ value, Hollinger writes, “is an extremely divisive topic because he is so dependent on generating tough 2-point jump shots and offers little in the non-scoring categories.” He posted a career-high 24 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game this season on 43.8/34.9/88.1 splits and a 57.5 TS% (also a best for him). The 23-year-old was plagued by hamstring issues all year. 

"I know my value, I know what I'm worth around the league," Thomas said during his end-of-the-season exit interview. "It's not really anything for me to be intimidated or excited about because I know the value that I bring to a team. We'll see how that goes, but I definitely know my value and know my worth. I think that's all that matters to me."

Hollinger states that the Nets are “pretty heavily incentivized to re-sign [Thomas] to a front-loaded deal with 8% annual declines that would make him a favorable value in the final two years of the deal.” If that’s the case, Thomas will surely be involved in trade rumors for as long as he suits up in a Nets uniform.