This is a dead zone for Brooklyn Nets news & updates. We’re waiting on just about everything: if Thaddeus Young and/or Brook Lopez re-sign, if the roster will change otherwise via trade, if the Nets will do their requisite shuffle around the NBA Draft’s second round. Just about the only thing we know is that Lionel Hollins will be back, and like Brook Lopez joked at the end of this season, “we thought that (about then-coach Jason Kidd) last year, too.”
But this week, a few things should become clearer. For one, Billy King is scheduled to speak with the media this morning. Topics of discussion expect to be Young’s player option (he has until the end of the day to decide), as well as Lopez (who has until the 29th). The Nets will be holding one more workout, with multiple players expected to get drafted in their range. (Full list here.)
Another possible topic of discussion? Whether or not the Nets expect to dangle Mason Plumlee in any deals. There’s been rumors that the team has fielded offers for the center on a rookie contract, and could use him to move up in the draft:
And I'm hearing teams have indeed begun to inquire about availability of Mason Plumlee based on belief Nets willing to move young big man
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 27, 2015
A few folks around the internet have speculated on what Plumlee could bring back, even possibly a lottery pick from the Indiana Pacers.[note]This doesn’t seem likely at all, but just imagine the Nets ending up with a lottery pick from the team they knocked out of the playoffs on the last day of the season. It would almost make up for swapping this year’s draft pick with the Hawks.[/note] Former Nets executive Bobby Marks has said that Nets brass was very impressed with Kentucky freshman Devin Booker, who’s projected to go in the lottery, so that’s one name to watch on draft night.
The Nets will have a few more things cleared up soon. Young’s contract status (or lack thereof) should become official. The draft is Thursday. Brook Lopez’s decision will soon follow. Shortly after that, the Nets will begin negotiating with free agents, including their own. By then, we should have a little more idea of what next year’s team will look like… and who might not be coming back.
