Another preseason has come and gone, and the Nets have decisions to make.
The team currently has 14 players on partially or fully guaranteed contracts: Andrea Bargnani, Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown, Wayne Ellington, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jarrett Jack, Joe Johnson, Sergey Karasev, Shane Larkin, Brook Lopez, Chris McCullough, Willie Reed, Thomas Robinson, and Thaddeus Young.
An NBA roster maxes out at 15 players. That leaves just one spot open, which three players are fighting for:
UPDATE: Shortly after this post went up, the Nets waived Boatright, Miller, and Daniels.
1) Justin Harper: Harper signed onto a training camp deal and wasn’t expected to make the team, but played well enough throughout preseason to turn a few heads. Harper was the only player on the roster to play in all six preseason games, showing a scoring touch inside and out and grabbing a few rebounds. He’s still a longshot to make the team, but it’s a shorter longshot than it was two weeks ago.
2) Dahntay Jones: The Nets picked up Jones as a veteran presence through training camp, and Hollins gave him enough preseason playing time to open the question if he’d earn the team’s last spot. It’s not out of the realm of possibility: the Nets might think they could use another veteran on a team that only has two players over 30 years old. Jones also said on media day he has friends on the team.
3) Donald Sloan: The 27-year-old point guard who last played for the Pacers. Sloan has a strong shot to make the team: the Nets lack “true” point guards outside of Jack and Larkin, and might use the 15th spot for an emergency backup like Sloan, who doesn’t have the upside of the younger players but has an NBA pedigree.
If the Nets want to keep more than one player, they could conceivably waive one of their players on a partially guaranteed deal, or work out a minor trade to send away one of their end-of-bench players. (The Nets can’t trade anyone they signed in the offseason yet under NBA rules.) They could also go the other way and decide to go into the season with only 14 players.
The team has until two days before opening night to make the cuts, which would be October 26th. Last season, the Nets waived one player (Willie Reed) the day after the final game, and another (Casper Ware) two days later.
The Nets will have to make the proper cuts prior to opening night. We’ll see who sticks around.
