2 days ago
How should the Nets use their cap space for the 2025 NBA offseason?
How should the Nets use their cap space for the 2025 NBA offseason?
The Brooklyn Nets head into the 2025 NBA offseason with the most cap space in the league by far, giving them the opportunity to do whatever they want from a financial perspective. The simplest use of cap space is to use the money to sign free-agents, but there is a chance for Brooklyn to use the space they have to do more than just bring in players.
"General manager Sean Marks needs to throw that weight around like he means it," Bleacher Report's Dan Favale wrote when discussing the Nets and their salary cap situation. There have been various projections introduced since the February trade deadline for the 2024-25 season, but the Nets are projected to have somewhere between $40 million and $50 million in cap space while the next-closest team (Detroit Pistons) is expected to have around $25 million.
"And as a reminder: Cap space isn't just for free agency. The Nets can use their financial runway to facilitate blockbuster deals or salary dumps in exchange for picks and prospects," Favale continued. "Asset accumulation is the one and only goal. If the Nets think they can drive up the price tag on rival free agents like Jonathan Kuminga (restricted), Myles Turner or Naz Reid (player option), then have at it."
To Favale's point, Brooklyn has the opportunity to not only be able to sign any free-agent they want because of their spending power, but could take advantage of their surplus of cap space compared to the rest of the league. The Nets are projected to have twice as much cap space as the next-closest team and there are teams like the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns who would like to shed salary so that they can have access to the mechanisms that can allow them to improve their teams, but are restricted by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Brooklyn is coming off a 26-56 record during the 2024-25 season so the team isn't close to being a contender anytime soon, meaning they will have to use as many of their assets to close that gap as possible. The Nets also have five draft picks to use in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft and even with that, they could use some of those draft picks to target specific players or entice teams to give them something they want in exchange for cost-controlled talent.
