An early look at the Brooklyn Nets cap situation for next season

With the Brooklyn Nets out of playoff contention, the focus shifts to finishing out the season strong. Along with that comes player development, and an early look at player additions. We examine the cap space the Nets will have to work with.

General Manager Sean Marks had a very specific plan for the Brooklyn Nets last off season. By taking on bad contracts from other teams, he was able to acquire assets. These came in the form of players, D’Angelo Russell, and draft picks, Toronto’s first rounder this year.

The contracts that came back were one hit and one miss, even though both were supposed to be albatrosses. Timofey Mozgov was certainly that. The $64 million deal that the Los Angeles Lakers gave him still has two years remaining after this season. He has appeared in just 24 games this season, with 4.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game. We even profiled him as buy out candidate last week.

DeMarre Carroll on the other hand, has been fantastic. He’s averaging career highs with 13.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists, and has been the heart and soul of this Nets team. His leadership, defensive intensity, and effort have all been noticed and rubbed off on his teammates.

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The Allen Crabbe acquisition was a bit of both. On the one hand Portland needed to shed his salary. On the other, Marks and the Nets had offered him the contract he was playing on a year early, and took a gamble that they could develop him further.

Crabbe started off the season slumping, and his percentages are down significantly mostly due to increased usage. That said, his last ten games have seen him average 18.3 points and 4.3 rebounds on 44 percent shooting. When Crabbe gets hot he can carry a team for stretches, and he’ll be under contract for two more seasons as part of his $74 million deal.

Having established these contracts, the Nets will also have Jahlil Okafor, Joe Harris, Nik Stauskas, Dante Cunningham, and Quincy Acy hitting free agency. Factoring in Deron Williams 5.4 million buyout provision, and Jeremy Lin’s opt in, that puts the Nets at around $16 million in cap space.

The biggest questions as far as the Nets free agents go are whether the team will re-sign Harris and Okafor. Okafor can only be offered the $6.3 million over one year deal that the Sixers declined for his fifth year option. It’s tough to see another team giving him more than that on a multi-year deal, however.

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Harris would likely command a similar figure over multiple years, but with the Nets guard depth, he might become expendable.

Let’s assume none of the free agents are re-signed. To be fair their return doesn’t help the Nets get any closer to the playoffs. $16 million would not be enough to convince a rising star to come to Brooklyn.

DeMarre Carroll’s $15.4 million for next season becomes more attractive since it’s an expiring contract. Not to mention that as we outline above, Carroll can really contribute to a contender. If Sean Marks is able to move Carroll’s contract, he will free up enough space for the Nets to go for a bigger name, if not two good players.

Marks might even be able to get another asset or draft pick out of such a deal as well.

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