The Nets made plenty of moves during their first three offseasons as Brooklyn residents. Will that continue this summer? We’re about to find out.
After giving the top-seeded Hawks a test before falling in the first round of the playoffs, the Nets now go about retooling their roster to try and make a fourth straight playoff run next season.
Here’s your handy offseason guide recapping what the Nets have done – and what they can still do – in order to prepare themselves for the 2015-16 season.
The math
2014-15 payroll commitments: $87,825,904
2014-15 luxury tax payments: $18,742,260
2014-15 combined roster costs: $106,568,164
2015-16 salary cap (estimate): $70,000,000
2015-16 luxury tax threshold (estimate): $84,740,000
Current Nets salaries for 2015-16 season: $84,924,480
Current Nets luxury tax payments for 2015-16 season: $471,200
Current Nets combined roster costs for 2015-16 season: $85,395,680
Players under contract for 2015-16
SG Joe Johnson: $24,894,863
C Brook Lopez: $19,689,000
PF Thaddeus Young: $11,300,000
PG Jarrett Jack: $6,300,000
SF Bojan Bogdanovic: $3,425,510
SG Sergey Karasev: $1,599,840
SG Wayne Ellington: $1,500,000
PG Shane Larkin: $1,500,000
PF Andrea Bargnani: $1,362,897
SF Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: $1,335,480
PF Earl Clark: $1,185,784 (non-guaranteed)
PF Chris McCullough: $1,140,240
PF Thomas Robinson: $981,348
SF Quincy Miller: $981,348 (only $50,000 guaranteed through the end of training camp)
C Willie Reed: $947,276 ($500,000 guaranteed, becomes fully guaranteed if on opening night roster)
SG Markel Brown: $845,049 (partial guarantee that becomes fully guaranteed if on training camp roster)
PG Ryan Boatright: $525,093 ($75,000 guarantee, becomes fully guaranteed if on opening right roster)
Waived players
PG Deron Williams: Bought out on July 11 for $27.5 million of the $43.5 million remaining on the final two years of his contract. The Nets will carry a $5,474,787 hit on their salary cap each year through the 2019-20 season.
PF Cory Jefferson: Waived on July 13 to avoid having his contract become partially guaranteed.
Free agents
SG Alan Anderson: Opted out of $1,333,484 player option for 2015–16. Became an unrestricted free agent, signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Wizards.
PF Mirza Teletovic: One-year qualifying offer of $4,210,215 was rescinded, making him an unrestricted free agent. Signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Suns.
C Jerome Jordan: unrestricted free agent
Draft picks
Brooklyn sent its first-round picks in 2016 and 2018, as well as the right to swap picks in 2017, to Boston as part of the trade that brought Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in 2013. The Nets have complete control of their first-round picks from 2019 on.
The Nets agreed to swap second-rounders with the Clippers in 2016 as part of the Reggie Evans sign-and-trade. They have traded away their second-round pick for every year from 2017 through 2020.
Unsigned draft pick
PG Xavier Thames, 2014 second-round pick (59th overall)
Spent 2014-15 playing for Sevilla in Spain (14 games, 15.4 minutes, 3.4 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 31.1 percent field-goal shooting, 19 percent 3-point shooting) and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA’s D-League (18 games, 19.3 minutes, 7.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.8 steals, 44.2 percent field-goal shooting, 28 percent 3-point shooting).
SG Juan Valuet, 2015 second round pick (39th overall)
Spent 2014-15 playing for Bahia Blanca in Argentina (34 games, 16.9 minutes, 7.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 50.5 percent field-goal shooting, 10 percent 3-point range shooting).
Money
The Nets have $3.4 million available to move in trades during the 2015-16 season.
Salary cap exceptions
For the first time in a few seasons, the Nets can go multiple ways with their salary cap situation. Because they’ve cut so much money this summer, they have the ability to operate under the “hard cap” of $88.7 million, allowing them to potentially use the full $5.464 million mid-level exception, the $2.139 million bi-annual exception and be eligible to make sign-and-trades where they receive a player signing a new contract as part of the deal.
Doing any of those things, however, would mean the Nets would not be allowed to go above $88.7 million in spending at any point during the 2015-16 season.
It appears instead the Nets will stick to using the smaller taxpayer’s mid-level of $3.376 million, allowing them the freedom of avoid being governed by the hard cap. The Nets have given $1.5 million each to Wayne Ellington and Shane Larkin, leaving them with $2.464 million if they choose to use the full mid-level, but too little to sign anyone else without becoming a hard capped team.
Trade exceptions
The Nets have a trade exception for $1,120,920 they received for sending Marquis Teague to the 76ers on Oct. 25. The trade exception will expire if it isn’t used before Oct. 24, 2015.
The Nets have a trade exception for $3,326,235 they received for sending Andrei Kirilenko to the 76ers on Dec. 11. The trade exception will expire if it isn’t used before Dec. 11, 2015.
The Nets have a trade exception for $816,482 they received for sending Jorge Gutierrez to the 76ers on Dec. 11. The trade exception will expire if it isn’t used before Dec. 11, 2015.
The Nets have a trade exception of $2,170,465 that they received from sending Steve Blake to the Pistons on July 13. The trade exception will expire if it isn’t used by July 13, 2016.