The Kings lost and Jordi Fernandez is now free to sign his deal with the Brooklyn Nets. Decisions await.
The Kings lost and the Nets won Thursday. Jordi Fernandez’s commitment to Sacramento has ended. So the 41-year-old will add to his impressive coaching resume’ by signing a contract to be be the Nets head coach. Expect an official announcement in the next few days and a press conference to introduce him.
Fernandez will have a lot of decisions to make— including where to live, where to send his kids to school, who will sit with him on the Nets bench. Basketball operations, aka Sean Marks & co., will too. The assistant GM and director basketball operations job are open. So to help everyone out, here’s our Brooklyn Nets calendar from April through October … and the Liberty, too. After all, they are once again a favorite to win it all in the WNBA. Hat tips to the NBA, WNBA, Spotrac and Bobby Marks off-season preview for all the dates and data.
So, here ya go: Download it or print it out and put it on the fridge … if people still do that.
—April 20 – NBA Playoffs 2024 begin. We have nothing to say. No predictions.
—April 28 – New York Liberty training camp opens at Barclays Center. (It’s available.)
—May 7 – New York Liberty open preseason with visit to Chicago Sky in the Windy City
—May 9 – Liberty play second and final preseason game in Uncasville, CT, vs. the Connecticut Sun.
—May 11-12 – NBA G League Elite Camp (Chicago, IL)
—May 12 – NBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm (Chicago, IL.) The Nets pick, No. 9, is held by the Rockets who have a 4.5% at the overall No. 1 pick.
—May 13 – Roster cut down day for Liberty
—May 12-19 – NBA Draft Combine (Chicago, IL)
—May 14 – New York Liberty opens 2024 season vs. Washington Mystics in D.C., 7:00 p.m. ET. All the Liberty games will be carried locally on either MY9 and FOX5 in New York.(24 games) or nationally on ABC (four games), CBS (two games) and ESPN (four games) among others. Broadcast schedule is here.
—May 18 – New York Liberty home opener vs Indiana Fever at Barclays Center, 1:00 p.m. ET. Caitlin Clark will be the star attraction of the game which will be televised on ABC. Tickets are not cheap.
—June 6 – NBA Finals begin. We wish everyone well.
—June 1-13 – WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Tournament
—June 25 – WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship
—June 27-28: NBA Draft 2024. Nets have no picks “yet” as Sean Marks emphasized in talking with BK Block fans Wednesday night. Houston controls both the Nets first and second rounders from two separate trades. It’s more likely that the Nets will make a move to get into the second round rather than the first. Second round picks are not guaranteed and Nets have a history of looking for diamonds in the rough and signing them to two-way deals, then converting them later in the season. The first round will take place at Barclays Center, the second the next night at Pier 17, where ESPN has its studios. ESPN have rights to both nights.
—June 29: Deadline for the Nets to decide whether to make Trendon Watford a restricted free agent. Similarly, they have to decide whether to do the same with Keon Johnson’s and Jacob Gilyard’s two-way deals. Keita Bates-Diop will have to inform the Nets if he is exercising his player option for $2.6 million next season.
—June 30: Teams can begin negotiating with free agents (beginning at 6 p.m. ET) Nets big prize of course is Nic Claxton, but the team also will have decisions to make on a number of other free agents including Lonnie Walker IV, Dennis Smith Jr. and sign their own. They will likely have the $12.9 million MLE and the $4.7 million BAE, the biannual exception.
—July 1: Under terms of the contract Ben Simmons signed while with Philly, he receives 25% of his 2024-25 salary on July 1, about $10 million before taxes.
—July 6: NBA Teams may begin signing free agents to contracts (12:01 p.m. ET). Also the remainder of the Joe Harris trade exception — $11.3 million — and the Patty Mills exception — $6.8 million — expire. It’s also the high point of trade season and Sean Marks does a lot of business at the Draft and the opening of free agency.
—July 12-22: Las Vegas Summer League. Noah Clowney is confirmed. Jalen Wilson is a lock too, we have to assume. The Nets said Dariq Whitehead should be a “full participant in the Nets off-season development program,” which suggests he’ll be there as well. Jaylen Martin is under contract as a two-way in 2024-25. Keon Johnson? Jacob Gilyard? Draft pick? Free agent signings?
—July 20: WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix. Will Sabrina Ionescu defend her record-breaking win in the 3-point shootout?
—July 21 – August 14: WNBA Olympic Break. Two Liberty players, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have been selected for the Team USA. It will be Stewart’s third Olympic bid, Ionescu’s first. Marine Johaness will compete for France, Han Xu for China and Nyara Sabally for Germany. Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello will coach the Opals, Australia’s women’s team.
—July 26-August 11: Paris Olympics. Unless Jordi Fernandez comes back to coach Team Canada, which seems unlikely, the Nets will have limited representation in the City of Light. Dennis Schroder will be Germany’s captain. Two draft stashes, Nikola Milutinov and Vanja Marinkovic, will play for Serbia and the Nets current director of development, Adam Caporn, is an assistant coach for Australia. But no Mikal Bridges for Team USA nor Ben Simmons for Australia’s Boomers. There’s good news and bad news in that sentence. Both could use the rest.
—Early August: NBA schedule is released. The Nets opening night opponents will be revealed as will the format for this year’s in-season tournament, etc, etc.
—August 20: WNBA Trade Deadline.
—September 19: WNBA Regular Season ends.
—September 22: WNBA Playoffs begin.
—October 1: Ben Simmons gets the second tranche of his salary, another $10 million before taxes.
—October 1-21: Mikal Bridges is eligible to sign a three-year, $112.9 million extension starting in 2026-27. He’s making a very reasonable $23.3 million and $24.9 million in the next two years. It’s highly likely he’ll pass, bet on himself and negotiate closer to 2026. Also, October 21 is the deadline for Nets to extend Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe beyond his rookie contract. Otherwise, they can wait a year and the two will be restricted free agents, meaning the Nets can match any deal they get in July 2025. Yes, the Nets can also extend Ben Simmo
—October 20: Last Possible WNBA Finals Date. Will it be Liberty vs. Aces again? Will we finally get a parade?!?
—October 22: Team option on Jalen Wilson’s partially guaranteed ($75,000) second year.
—October 31: Easiest decision of the year: Deadline for the Nets to guarantee Noah Clowney (and Dariq Whitehead) for third year.
If we missed anything, the comments are open.