The Brooklyn Nets enter the offseason as the only NBA team with substantial salary cap flexibility, positioning them uniquely in a crowded free agent market. However, their maneuvers this week via trade and by selecting five players in the first round of the draft indicate the franchise remains focused on asset accumulation rather than short-term roster improvements during their ongoing rebuild. They will be facilitators rather than pursuers of free agents.
With limited cap space destinations available, numerous high-profile free agents may be forced into sign-and-trade scenarios to reach their preferred teams. The unprecedented market conditions suggest most free agents will either remain with current teams or require creative trade structures to facilitate moves.
"But the fact that they're the only team with cap space—that means there's a whole lot of free agents right now: James Harden, Naz Reid, Julius [Randle]... LeBron James has a player option," said Shams Charania on Thursday's Pat McAfee Show.
"So I think, you know, what we're going to see is a lot of free agents are either going to re-sign with their teams or work on sign-and-trade deals, because there's only one team with significant cap space."
Early Re-Signings Signal Market Constraints
Fred VanVleet and Kyrie Irving are two prominent free agents who have already re-signed with their incumbent teams for contracts that were less than originally anticipated.
Jonathan Kuminga is a strong sign-and-trade candidate as the Golden State Warriors do not want to lose him without compensation and interested teams such as the Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings will require their participation.
Hard Cap Implications for Sign-and-Trade Deals
When teams execute a sign-and-trade, the receiving team will automatically be hard capped at the first tax apron for the remainder of the season. Last season, the Warriors were hard capped due to their use of a sign-and-trade to acquire both Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson.
The Kings were similarly hard capped due to their sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan has needed a sign-and-trade to find a lucrative contract during his free agency periods in both 2021 and again in 2024.