Crazy is the word being tossed around in describing what to expect from the off-season.
The Draft Lottery is over, the final Combine was last week in Italy and individual workouts are well underway at HSS Training Center and other practice facilities around the league. And oh, those rumors. The Brooklyn Nets have plans to move up, consolidate picks, listen to offers, maybe even make some. Ya never know.
The big dates are those for the NBA Draft Lottery and free agency. Expect the them to overlap in the days before the Draft and Draft Night. As Brian Windhorst of ESPN has said, the Draft is likely to be akin to the trade deadline in February. And more than one pundits has predicted a crazy or craziest off-season.
Here’s a fun fact: Should the Liberty make it to the WNBA Finals again … for the first time the series will be best-of-7 … their Final game of the season could be October 19. Two days later, the Nets season opens.
So here we go.
—June 1-17: WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Tournament
—June 15: NBA Draft Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline (5:00 p.m. ET.) Players may think twice about staying in the Draft. They could be forced to choose between guaranteed six or seven figure NIL money vs. possibly not be drafted at all or getting a two-way contract. That money won’t be guaranteed and could be less than the two-way. Some have already dropped out, but this is the final deadline.
—June 18-29: FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025. Leonie Fiebich is playing for Germany. Marine Johannes will not play for France, choosing to stay in the WNBA after sitting out last season to help France win the silver at the Paris Olympics.
—June 25-26: NBA Draft. Both rounds are at Barclays Center, the first on the night of Wednesday, June 25, the second the next night. Who will the Nets pick? At the moment, the Nets have four first rounders and a second rounder, most in the league. More than the February trade deadline, the days before the Draft are historically Sean Marks’ time. In eight of his nine years as GM, he’s made at least one move, some big, some small, within 48 hours of the draft.
—June 29: Jalen Wilson, Keon Johnson, Tyrese Martin and Drew Timme have team options for 2025-26. Maxwell Lewis has a partial guarantee on an extension. Qualifying Offers must be extended to Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams as well for the Nets to retain their rights. Expect the Nets to not extend a qualifying offer to Williams. Because he was a high draft pick — No. 10 in 2021 — Williams qualifying offer is more than $8 million which would be added to the Nets cap. They can still sign him, of course.
—June 30: NBA teams may begin negotiating with free agents (starting at 6:00 p.m. ET). Applies to re-signings as well. Nets will have an estimated $50 million in cap space, more than any other team by a long shot. Brooklyn can tender offer sheets to restricted free agents. And other teams can do the same with the Nets RFAs but unless a player is willing take no more than the MLE, a little more than $14 million, it’s going to be difficult because as reported, only the Nets have more than that.
—July 1: WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship
—July 6: Free agent signings and Draft Day trades become official. Cam Johnson can be extended up to three years and $102 million … wherever he might be. Both D’Angelo Russell and Trendon Watford are eligible.
—July 7: Nets $23.3 million trade exception from Mikal Bridges trade expires. Because the Nets have so much cap space, there seems little use of it, but again, we’re not capologists.
—July 8: Maxwell Lewis Jr. is eligible for an extension.
—July 10-20: NBA Summer League in Las Vegas With all those draft picks plus a number of young players from this year’s team and camp invites, Brooklyn should be one of the most interesting squads. In addition to whoever the Nets draft, Dariq Whitehead seems like a lock. Noah Clowney would seem like a question mark. It is his third season in the NBA. And in case you forgot, Jalen Wilson won the SL MVP last year.
—July 17–21: WNBA All-Star Break
—July 19: WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. With the Liberty dominating the W, expect multiple selections from New York.
—Early August TBA: NBA schedule for 2025-26 is released. Games to look for: the four vs. the Knicks of course; the Dallas Mavericks with Cooper Flagg and if he’s healthy at the time, Kyrie Irving. We’ll also find out how many national TV games will the Nets play.
—August 7: WNBA Trade Deadline, 3:00 pm ET.
—August 29: Player Playoff eligibility from Waivers, 5:00 pm ET
—September 11: WNBA Regular Season Ends
—September 14: WNBA Playoffs begin
—September 28: Rough starting date for training camp and Media Day for those teams like the Nets who play overseas in preseason The Nets, of course, are playing in China.
—October 10: First of two NBA China Games vs. Phoenix Suns at the 14,000 capacity Venetian in Macao.
—October 12: Second of two NBA China Games. Same opponent, same venue.
—October 20: Keon Johnson and Jalen Wilson contract partial guarantees: $760,520 for Johnson; $381,695 for Wilson. Contracts become fully guaranteed January 10.
—October 19 – Last possible date for WNBA Finals.
—October 21: Regular Season Opening Night, opponent TBA,
—October 31: Nets team option on Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead for 2026-27.