Brooklyn Nets: 3 potential buyout candidates to pursue

1. Robin Lopez

Given that is his brother Brook is the leading scorer in the history of the Brooklyn Nets franchise, Robin Lopez could have plenty to prove if he ever ended up having his checks signed by Joe Tsai.

Lopez is currently on the struggling Wizards of Washington, and a buyout seems likely given the lack of a need for teams to pay Robin Lopez $7 million a year. With Bradley Beal seemingly on the verge of demanding a trade (could happen at any moment!), Lopez could be added as a piece and later bought out — if he isn’t immediately bought out anyway.

The younger Lopez twin from Stanford has had a great year in the nation’s capital, upping his efficiency to a career-high 63% from the field in 2020-21. That said, he still likely won’t be a hot target on the trade market.

Being that Lopez is well respected around the league, he can likely easily force his way out of Washington if things continue to spiral. At this point, Beal needs to be on a different team, and the Wizards would be better off handing the reins to the young guns (Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant when he returns from an ACL tear) after Lopez inevitably gets dealt.

With Brook Lopez seemingly locked into Milwaukee — and Sean Marks unlikely to offer DeAndre Jordan’s matching contract — bringing on Robin would be a nice way to add a backup big man off the pine with the ability to create his own offense on the block.