NetsDaily Off-Season Report: No. 8

Every weekend, we’ll be updating the Nets’ off-season with bits and pieces of information, gossip, etc. to help fans get ready for … whatever.

We’re in the first news desert of the off-season, three weeks after the Draft Lottery and three weeks before the Draft itself. The second comes in mid-July after Summer League. The rosters are basically set and the beginning of training camp is months away, in late September. Not much goes on.

Overall, we are eight weeks into the Brooklyn Nets off-season, about a third of the way between the sounds of sneakers screeching on hardwood. Of course, there are two teams for whom the off-season hasn’t begun and they’re playing tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC. Hoping for another classic.

So what’s going on? Starting off, who’s currently toiling away at HSS Training Center working on their games, back from Cancun or Cabo or the Turks & Caicos, etc? Not headline material. There’s no easy way of finding out — players come and go all summer and the Nets don’t post a list — but we thought we may have found a hint this week on a social media site … Weibo, the big Chinese site. It’s roughly combination of Twitter (or x) and Facebook.

Last week, the Brooklyn Nets wished their Chinese fans “Happy Dragon Boat Day,” which is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar. It integrates praying for good luck and taking a respite from the summer heat. It features boat races and healthy servings of rice dumplings. This year it fell on May 31 and so on that day, the Nets’ Weibo team posted video of five Nets players offering greetings in both Chinese and English…

The five were Jalen Wilson, Noah Clowney, Keon Johnson, Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas, all notable gym rats. Admit, this is the kind of investigative reporting you come here for!

There were also indicators on the Nets official site that Wilson and KJ have been in, Johnson hosting Jelly Roll, rapper and fellow Tennessean. also this week…

It’s not headline material like the Draft and free agency, just development which is, in case you forgot, as crucial.

There certainly have been other players in this summer, but it looks like these guys were around, corralled by the Nets’ Chinese language media folks and put in front of a camera. FYI, there are a lot of Chinese fans out there. The Nets have 7.3 million followers on Weibo. compared to 2.0 million on Twitter/X and 4.7 million on Instagram.

The front office, of course, is working hard, with deadlines closing in. For one thing, they’re working out players on a daily or near-daily basis, six at a time for the most part. So far we count, with the aid of the Hoopshype workout tracker, 18 prospects who’ve been in. It is obviously and incomplete list:

Of that list, as Hoopshype notes, only seven are consensus picks in the first or second round of the NBA Draft and three prospects dropped out of the Draft last month.

Right at the top of the Hoopshype list is Jeremiah Fears, the Oklahoma point guard who in the last few days has been the center of Nets draft speculation with rumors that Brooklyn would like to move up so they wind up with two lottery picks on January 25. Some draftniks, like Rafael Barlowe of NBA Big Board, suggesting that Fears is their top target.

That shouldn’t be surprising. Fears, in talking to reporters at the Combine, had this to say about his interaction with the Nets in Chicago:

“I met with Brooklyn. I worked out for Brooklyn as well,” the 18-year-old told media. “The conversations were great. They were just telling me how they think I could fit within their system and be an overall good piece for them.” Then with a smile noted, “I like New York a little. It’s not a bad idea.”

In that same interview, Fears said he can bring star power to whoever takes him. Very New York.

As our Lucas Kaplan wrote this week in his first film study of possible Nets picks, Fears is not a finished product … at all. He doesn’t turn 19 till October. But other than Cooper Flagg and maybe Dylan Harper, there are questions about every one in the mix between them and when Adam Silver calls the eighth pick.

Reading the tea leaves, it seems that Fears is rising, as is another PG, BYU’s Egor Demin. Tre Johnson also looks like he is moving up. Maryland big Derik Queen, on the other hand, seems to be falling.

The rumors are all over the place. In some cases the Nets are moving up from No. 19. looking to acquire the Raptors pick at No. 8 or the Rockets at No. 10, In others, they want to go higher and might try to get deals done with the 76ers at No. 3, the Hornets at No. 4 or the Jazz at No. 5.

The latest, from Sunday’s The Steinline with Marc Stein and Jake Fischer:

Like the Thunder, Orlando and Brooklyn have also been mentioned by rival executives as teams to monitor for potential trades up into the late lottery.

Brooklyn holds first-round picks at Nos. 19, 26 and 27 … all after its No. 8 selection.

Stein also writes:

There’s been lots of chatter leaguewide, actually, about the majority of picks from Nos. 20-30 being available for trade in this draft.

As a number of reporters, including us, have speculated every time there’s a rumor that the Nets want to move up, either from No. 8 or 19, Cam Johnson’s name gets mentioned. It makes sense particularly if the other team in the trade talk is a contender and looking for a reliable scorer and a good locker room presence. At this point, it seems that things are nowhere near close, but that said, the rest of the league knows they will need the Nets particularly to facilitate trades.

As one agent told Lucas Kaplan this week that the Nets “control everything,” with their dominance in the Draft and cap space. Teams will need them to “absorb contracts while adding assets” but if they don’t and decide to go in another direction, like kicking their cap space down the road to the summer of 2026, the league is going to have “a hell of a time” trying to make trades. It will be competitive and Sean Marks should be able to sort out the best offers. it could get wild.

Here’s our best prediction: whatever happens will be shocking. It’s not just that Marks & co. have made so many deals at the Draft, eight of his nine drafts he’s done something a few days either side of Draft day. They’ve made shocking deals — out of the blue deals. Last year’s trades with New York and Houston was perhaps the biggest example. Brook Lopez, the franchise’s leading all time scorer, for D’Angelo Russell, two years removed from being the overall No. 2 selection, was another.

State Secrets

One reason Brooklyn’s moves are so often shocking is that the Nets run a pretty tight ship under Sean Marks. Under both Rod Thorn and Billy King, the Nets had a reputation as being a sieve, that discussions of trades and other moves would wind up being leaked, sometimes within minutes of a phone call ending. That has generally not been the case with Marks. As noted in the SCOUT docu-series, there is a slogan on the wall of the basketball operations conference room at HSS. It consists of a few words: “Disagree but commit.”

In other words, when a decision is made, debate ends. Loyalty means carrying the decision as if it was your own.

It’s the last thing staffers see as they exit the room.

Draft Sleeper of the Week

Kasparas Jakucionis has been listed in the lottery for as long as we can remember, never getting much higher than sixth or much lower than eighth or ninth. The 6’7” Lithuanian point guard played for Illinois where he averaged 15.0 points on 44/32/85 shooting splits along with 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Not a hyper athlete like Jeremiah Fears, but someone who might be able to move into a key role earlier in his career.

In the most recent mocks and big boards, he’s been linked to Brooklyn as a solid “fit” player. Although listed as a point guard, there’s some suggestion that with some muscle on his big frame he could fit into the point forward slot in the NBA.

Jeremy Woo of ESPN wrote this of him 10 days ago in the ESPN Top 100 rankings.

The way the lottery fell didn’t expressly help Jakucionis, as two potential landing spots in San Antonio and Philadelphia moved up into the top four. He still appears ticketed for the 8-to-14 part of the draft, with his versatility, playmaking feel, shooting potential and intangibles holding appeal to teams in that range, with Brooklyn, Portland and Chicago all viable fits.

Although Jakucionis has some holes in his statistical profile, shooting 31.8% from 3 and averaging 3.7 turnovers, NBA teams appear largely forgiving, factoring in his age and adjustment to the college level in a major role. Those are key areas for improvement, particularly if he’s going to spend time on the ball long-term. Still, he should be able to help stabilize a backcourt in time and add valuable depth wherever he lands.

J. Kyle Mann of The Ringer likes his BBIQ.

I love players who can rapidly “stack” actions. Players who know, instinctively, how to respond to whatever the defense is doing with rapid-fire decisions. Jakucionis, the Lithuanian guard who left FC Barcelona to star for Illinois this season, might be the best at it of anyone in this draft. He’s the type of role-malleable triple threat that every team in the league could use.

Jakucionis fits a flattering Euro stereotype for guards in that he has an almost joyous bobbing rhythm in the way he moves with the ball—a command for starting and stopping that really puts defenders in a less joyous place.

Similarly, Tyler Ruck of No Ceilings sees intangibles when Jakucionis has the ball in his hands.

Jakucionis doesn’t look like an 18-year-old on the court. He plays as if he’s an NBA veteran of six years. Poise is going to be a word that floats around your head the moment you turn on the tape. The moment that Jakucionis gets the ball in his hands, it looks like a maestro conducting an orchestra. He understands both how to use angles and the importance of timing. Not only will Kasparas create a window to attack, but he will do everything in his power to get you trapped in no-man’s-land before picking you apart.

In so many words, he’s an assassin with the ball in his hands.

Currently, he’s tied to the Nets at No. 8 by Tankathon,

We do know that Sean Marks and B.J. Johnson saw his play this season but not under flattering circumstances. They were in Piscataway when Dylan Harper ran wild against Illinois scoring 28 points. Still, his versatility may win the day for him.

And again, the requisite highlight package.

For the record, here’s our Draft Sleepers so far with only one entry left:

—Noa Essengue, Ratiopharm Ulm, 6’9” PF

—Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma, 6’4” PG

—Tre Johnson, Texas, 6’6” SF

—Cooper Flagg, Duke, 6’9” PF (unrequited love)

—Egor Demin, BYU, 6’10” PG

—Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 7’1” PF/C

Would the Tsais sell other pieces of BSE Global or teams?

As we’ve noted, in the past year, Joe and Clara Wu Tsai have sold 15% of BSE Global, parent company of the Nets, Liberty and Barclays Center to members of the Koch family: Julia Koch and her three children. That was back in June of 2024. Then, 10 days ago, they sold a “mid-teens” piece of the Liberty to Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba with Joe Tsai, and five American investors, all women with sports in their background.

A good chunk of the Koch family money is going towards enhancing things at Barclays Center, part of a five-year, $100 million upgrade of the arena, including everything from new restaurants to improved access. As for Ma et al, their money will be used to defray costs of the Liberty’s $80 million training facility in Greenpoint.

As we wrote, the investments give BSE Global and the Liberty huge valuations: the former over $6 billion and the Libs $450 million. And Clara Wu Tsai, in talking to a Forbes sports investment forum on Thursday suggested more investments could be in store.

In discussing her long-sought goal of making the Liberty the first women’s pro sports team worth $1 billion, Forbes content editor Russell Lane engaged in this short back-and-forth with Wu Tsai.

”So that number is good?” Lane asked of the billion dollar valuation.

“Number’s great,” said Wu Tsai. “And we have a lot of people interested.”

“More people interested” would seem to suggest more people interested in grabbing piece of the Libs beyond the Ma-led group. It’s no surprise that women’s sports is increasingly a big deal. And there is a lot of big money floating around the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic. Julia Koch and family are worth an estimated $79 billion (making her the third richest woman on the planet while Jack Ma at $39 billion is the eighth richest man in China, according to estimates. Overall, per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, they are the 21st and 41st richest people on Earth. The Tsais are worth $9 billion, putting them in the 357th position.

Big investors trust the Tsais. What does that mean for the fans? It is always better for you team to have a rich owner who loves the sport (and Julia Koch’s son, David Jr., is a basketball operations assistant at HSS.) When Mikhail Prokhorov, then the richest owner in pro sports, took over from Bruce Ratner, who was not cash-rich, Barclays Center and HSS Training Center soon followed.

Final Note

Just a reminder that the news desert will soon bloom. From our latest Deadlines and Commitments.

—June 25-26: NBA Draft. Both rounds are at Barclays Center, the first on the night of 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. Last year, he made two with the Nets and Rockets that changed the direction of the franchise almost precisely 48 hours before Adam Silver stepped to the stage.

—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 (beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET). Applies to re-signings as well. Nets will have an estimated $50 million to $70 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.

—July 6: Free agent signings and Draft Day trades become official. Cam Johnson can be extended up to three years and $100+ million.

—July 7: Nets $23.3 million trade exception from Mikal Bridges trade expires.

—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.

Hang in there.