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Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2026 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Brooklyn Nets.

Free agent signings

• Day’Ron Sharpe: Two years, $20,000,000. Second-year team option. Re-signed using cap room. Waived right to veto trade.
• Moritz Wagner: Two years, $18,450,000. Second-year mutual option. Signed using cap room.
• Keon Ellis: Two years, $18,000,000. Second-year mutual option. Signed using cap room.
• Josh Minott: Two years, $9,000,000. Second-year team option. Re-signed using cap room. Waived right to veto trade.

Trades

Draft picks

• 1-6: Mikel Brown Jr.
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $39,935,928). First two years guaranteed. Third- and fourth-year team options.
• 1-28: Joshua Jefferson
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $15,251,678). First two years guaranteed. Third- and fourth-year team options.
• 2-43: Tyler Bilodeau
  • Signed to two-way contract.

Two-way signings

• Tyler Bilodeau
  • One year, $91,000 partial guarantee (will increase to $339,441 at start of regular season).
• Chaney Johnson
  • One year, $91,000 partial guarantee.

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other roster moves

Salary cap situation

Note: Figures are rounded to one decimal place.

• Operating under the cap ($165MM).
• No hard cap.
• Team salary: $160MM (tax/apron).
• Below cap by $4.9MM; below luxury tax line by $40.4MM.
• Room exception ($9.4MM) available.

The offseason so far

After going just 20-62 in 2025/26, the third-worst record in the NBA, the Nets had a 52.1% chance of landing a top-four pick in June’s draft. However, they lost what was essentially a coin flip, instead falling to their lottery floor at No. 6 overall.

Brooklyn drafted former Mikel Brown Jr. with that selection in the hopes that the former Louisville guard will be a foundational player for years to come. The 20-year-old showed flashes of tantalizing upside as a freshman with the Cardinals last season, including a 45-point, nine-rebound outburst vs. NC State on February 9.

Brown’s freshman season was also marred by a back injury and bouts of inconsistency, but one front office executive referred to that back strain in June as “a thing of the past” and said that Brown was extremely impressive during the pre-draft process, showing off “star potential” during his workouts.

Brown seems likely to start as a rookie alongside second-year guard Egor Dymin who had an up and down first season in Brooklyn. The 20-year-old Russian played much more aggressively at the Las Vegas Summer League last month, which was an encouraging development after he played tentatively at times while battling a plantar fascia injury as a rookie.

In addition to Brown, the Nets also added Joshua Jefferson (No. 28) and Tyler Bilodeau (No. 43) in the draft. Jefferson’s rookie scale contract is guaranteed for the first two seasons, with team options in years three and four, while Bilodeau signed a non-guaranteed two-way deal. Bilodeau’s two-way contract covers one season, so he’ll be a restricted free agent next summer if he stays on that deal for all of 2026/27.

The Nets acquired Jefferson’s rights in the four-team blockbuster trade that sent Julius Randle to Brooklyn. The Nets traded Nic Claxton to Chicago and the No. 33 pick to the Wolves as part of that agreement.

Randle, who turns 32 at the end of November, doesn’t exactly fit the timeline of a young Nets roster. But the three-time All-Star should bring some much-needed toughness, experience, talent and competency to a Brooklyn team that lacked in all of those areas last season.

While Randle has long been viewed as a polarizing player, it’s worth noting that he helped transform the Knicks from a bottom-dweller to a perennial playoff team in his five years with the team. He’s also used to the bright lights of New York, though there’s considerably less attention on the Nets right now compared to the defending champions.

The Nets were able to take on the $33.3MM owed to Randle (compared to Claxton’s $22.1MM) because they were one of three teams to operate with cap room this summer. That was really their only major move to this point though, having used most of the rest of that room to re-sign Day’Ron Sharpe and Josh Minott and add Keon Ellis and Moritz Wagner in free agency.

While all four of those free agents received two-year deals, the contracts for Sharpe and Minott contain team options in the second seasons, meaning only the first year is guaranteed. Ellis and Wagner, on the other hand, received second-year mutual options — if either they or the Nets opt in, their salaries for 2027/28 will be guaranteed.

Sharpe appears poised to take on the starting center role in the wake of Claxton’s departure, with German big man Wagner acting as the backup. While neither of those players provide much rim protection, they should help the Nets improve their league-worst rebounding rate. Having Randle at power forward and Michael Porter Jr. at small forward should help in that regard too.

Up next

The Nets currently have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, but they still have $4.9MM in cap space and the $9.4MM room exception available. They’re also $40.4MM below the luxury tax line, giving general manager Sean Marks and the rest of Brooklyn’s front office plenty of financial flexibility to work with.

After a breakout first season with the Nets, Porter will be extension-eligible throughout the 2026/27 league year, as we detailed earlier on Sunday. For what it’s worth, NBA insider Jake Fischer recently said he doesn’t anticipate an offseason extension for the 28-year-old, who will earn $40.8MM this season ahead of 2027 free agency.

Forward Noah Clowney is eligible for a rookie scale extension until October 19. While the Nets are said to be high on the former 21st overall pick, who’s still only 22 years old, his performance has been pretty inconsistent through three seasons. After starting 60 of his 66 games in 2025/26, Clowney figures to come off the bench in ’26/27 and will likely be vying for minutes alongside Minnott, Jefferson and Danny Wolf.

Clowney will be on track for restricted free agency next summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal ahead of the regular season.

While Brooklyn native Terance Mann will become eligible for an extension on Oct. 1, with a deadline of Oct. 19, I’d be surprised if an agreement is reached. The veteran wing averaged 7.2 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 3.0 APG in 24.3 MPG across 63 games last season and is still owed another $16MM in 2027/28, so there’s no pressing need to extend him in the short term.

Although the NBA reworked its draft lottery system to penalize the worst teams in the league ahead of next year’s draft, those changes won’t have a material impact on the Nets this season, since they don’t control their first-round pick — Houston has the right to swap its first-rounder with Brooklyn’s. The Nets will still control two selections either way though, with the second being New York’s.

In fact, the Nets control at least 12 (up to 13) first-round picks and a whopping 19 second-rounders over the next seven years. Given all those draft assets, their projected cap flexibility, and the fact that they’re in a major market, the Nets are certainly worth monitoring for significant roster upgrades in the future.