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Brooklyn Nets
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Long Island Nets fall to Delaware Blue Coats, 133-127, as Kilian Hayes continues audition
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/8/...ts-133-127-as-kilian-hayes-continues-audition
Photo by Reuben Polansky-Shapiro/NBAE via Getty Images
Will Brooklyn Nets call up Killian Hayes? It’s becoming a legitimate question.
The Long Island Nets returned to the court on Saturday afternoon following two off-days Montreal, Canada but couldn’t come away with a win. Still, the big positive and big story for the Nets wasn’t the loss. It wasn’t the crowd of 6,096 at Place Bell in suburban Laval either. It was Killian Hayes continuing his audition for a return to the NBA, a year after the lottery pick was unceremoniously dumped by the Detroit Pistons.
After missing three games to the flu, the 6’5” 23-year-old put up 25 points, 11 assists and hit five threes, his fifth straight game of 20 or more points. And with the Brooklyn Nets opening up at least one roster spot, his timing was excellent.
Long Island went up against one of the worst teams in the G-League, and a team that had only won one of their last 10. In the end, Long Island would drop their sixth game in a row, losing to Delaware, 133-127, leaving the junior Nets at 6-10 for the regular season and 8-24 overall.
Long Island remained without their three two-way players — Tyrese Martin, Tosan Evbuomwan, and Reece Beekman -- as they continued with the big club. Long Island was also without the newly acquired Oshae Brissett who is still dealing with hamstring soreness.
In addition to Hayes, head coach Mfon Udofia had the services of 6’10” Drew Timme who had also missed time with the flue. Hayes made his return as a starter, whereas Timmemade his return off the bench. Despite coming in off the bench, Timme ended up playing most of the game anyways.
Hayes returned in a big way, scoring all 11 of Long Island’s first points within the four minutes of play. Hayes finished the game with a double-double, as he led the team in points with 25, and assists with 11. Hayes shot 10-of-17 overall and 5-of-9 from deep. He also managed to secure four rebounds and two steals.
Over his last five games, the French-American point guard has been playing at a high level, particularly in the shooting department, a big if not the biggest reason he was dumped by Detroit.
Brooklyn, of course, has an opening after Ben Simmons was bought out. Tyrese Martin who’s been on a two-way all season but hasn’t played a minute for Long Island is seen as the most likely candidate to get a standard contract. There’s also speculation that the Nets will waive DeAnthony Melton and/or Bojan Bogdanovic. It’ll probably be a couple of days before the roster reshuffling is complete. (Hayes, with four years of NBA experience, is ineligible for a two-way.)
Timme also had a good game. He finished tied for third on the team in points with Trevon Scott, with 20. However, Timme didn’t return to form in rebounding the ball, as he was only able to grab in four. Timme’s rebounding ability is something that has helped Long Island a lot in the past, and is something they sorely missed. Timme also had three assists to his credit.
Mark Armstrong was second on the team in points, continuing his sold play, picking up 22 points. While, Tyson Etienne had 17 points, and Dariq Whitehead scored 10.
One of the glaring issues we saw today for Long Island came in the play of Kendall Brown. Brown has been one of the team’s “hidden gems” this season. This was just not his game. He finished with nine points, connecting on just four of his nine shots.
Jordan Minor, the 6’9” local tryout who started the game for Long Island finished the game with a giant goose egg in the points column. However, he was able to pick up four rebounds
Long Island shot the ball well for the most part, connecting on 46 out of their 83 shot attempts, including drilling 15 of 29 from deep. However, they had no answer for Delaware’s 6’3” Syracuse shooting guard Judah Mintz who finished with 45 points.
The first quarter opened fantastic for Long Island. They were firing on all cylinders as Hayes picked up the team’s first 11 points. Both teams headed into the second quarter with 37 points. Delaware was able to pull away a little bit from Long Island, taking a six-point lead into the half.
Long Island had its share of issues in the third. However, they were able to chip away at Delaware’s 10+ point lead to end the third just down by two. Delaware would build up their lead again as the Long Island Nets would try to battle back, to no avail, losing the game by just six points.
Next Up
The Nets head back to New York after their fourth game in Quebec as part of the “Les Nets” promotion aimed at creating a Nets fan base in French-speaking Canada. With two more games in March, Long Island has averaged better than 6,600 fans per game. The promotion is a joint venture with the Groupe CH, the parent company of the Montreal Canadiens.
Long Island, is set to return to their true home court at Nassau Coliseum to face the Windy City Bulls on Tuesday. The game tips off at 11:00 AM for its special Education Day, and can be watched on ESPN+ and the Gotham Sports Net.
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/8/...ts-133-127-as-kilian-hayes-continues-audition
Brooklyn Nets
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GALLERY: BSE Global debuts Brooklyn Wine Club at Barclays Center
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/9/24362414/gallery-bse-global-debuts-brooklyn-wine-club
As pro sports owners try to differentiate their offerings from highly produced TV and cater to the high end of the economic scale, their offerings will be unique.
A few days before the Brooklyn Nets retired Vince Carter’s jersey at center court of Barclays Center, the arena was the the scene of a more exclusive affair, one not featuring bottles rather than a ball or a jersey: the launch of BSE Global’s latest initiative, the Brooklyn Wine Club.
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The Club is part of a broader effort to enhance the arena experience ... and cater to the higher end of fandom. It is also among the first steps in a BSE Global play to create a “destination’ around Barclays, one that the Nets parent company hopes will eventually lead to a hotel, conference center, marketplace plus connective tissue like a proprietary media network to draw audiences to the overall arts and cultural scene in Brooklyn. For now, though, it begins with wine.
Indeed, things like the wine club among the ways pro sports owners are looking at to differentiate their in-house product from highly produced televised and streamed sports. The game may be the game, but the experience is often what teams are selling. In the case of the Wine Club and other planned offerings, the experience will not only enhance game experience but provide a stand-alone experience not necessarily associated with the games, a revenue stream independent of what the Nets and Liberty are doing.
So, on January 25, about 100 people, members and non-members of the club, were invited to the BWC launch, a tasting that took place at one of Barclays Center’s two premium clubs, the 12,000 square foot Toki Row, itself a new addition and part of the “eco-system” Joe and Clara Wu Tsai and BSE Global CEO Sam Zussman are planning.
The two-hour event was more a social gathering than anything else. It does advertise itself as a “club,” after all! The evening featured a number of BSE Hospitality Group’s 20 in-house sommeliers — wine stewards — who circulated among the crowd offering a “curated selection” of Bordeaux wines as well as sake, each somm also offering a description of the vintage to be sampled.
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The sommeliers also provided each person a personal wine tasking “score card” and as each wine was poured, a square on the card was stamped.
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Meanwhile, those present were offered savories put together by Livio Velardo, Executive Chef at Barclays Center in collaboration with Margot, an up-and-coming Fort Greene restaurant.
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Not a dining experience per se, but one instead centered on pairing food with the evening’s selection of wines. The tasting was typical of New York’s growing wine club culture, with more than 100 currently operating in the city. Members pay a fee — in this case. $1,500 a year — to enjoy, as the New York Times described it, “a fun and convenient way to discover wines you might not normally try on your own.” In some cases, an additional fee is charged. (At the club’s first tasting, members paid $125 for the experience, non-members $175.)
The club was full.
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Although not present, the Tsais and Oliver Weisberg, the director of their family office, Blue Pool Capital, have been the driving force in the wine club. All of them are “oenophiles,” wine lovers with an interest in vintages across the globe. (In fact, the Tsais recently invested in some celebrated vineyards in Burgundy, France. No financial details were provided but wine experts told NetsDaily the purchase may have cost him tens of millions of dollars.)
“We have an ownership group that is passionate about wine and we have some remarkable spaces in the arena we could stand up rather quickly and create exceptional experiences and we really wanted to do something I’d say a bit more non-traditional in the world of wine and we wanted to do it first.” Shanon Ferguson, BSE Global’s Chief Hospitality Officer, recently told NetsDaily.
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Ferguson also said the wine experience will ultimately be expanded beyond the high rollers.
“Our next project that we’re looking at is in the upper concourse,” he told ND. “There’s going to be an association to this as well. It’s going to be an experience at an elevated level that everyone is going to have access to and wine will be a nice complementary part of that.“
Do features like the wine club, the new premium clubs and the Crown Club, a high-end restaurant, change the traditional fan dynamic where everyone roots for the home team no matter what their economic status? Perhaps, but in pro sports, that equality of experience has long since been stratified by courtside seats and suites and now even more expensive amenities. BSE Global can also point to a planned $100 million renovation of Barclays Center that will improve everyone’s experience.
BSE Global says in the future wine club events will take place throughout Barclays Center, including The Toki Row, JetBlue at The Key, the other premium club across the arena, as well as the Crown Club – but also throughout the borough as more events are announced.
Upcoming wine club events include Sip, Savor, IWA Sake (February 13, 2025), Lingua Franca: A Vertical Exploration with Larry Stone (February 27, 2025), and Burgundy & Baskets Paulée-Style (March 28, 2025).
Photos provided by BSE Global and NetsDaily.
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/9/24362414/gallery-bse-global-debuts-brooklyn-wine-club
Brooklyn Nets
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Brooklyn Nets overpower inept Charlotte Hornets squad, win 97-89
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/10/24363180/nets-vs-hornets-dayron-sharpe-moussa-diabata-97-89
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
The eight-point margin really oversells the tension of this one, which marks Brooklyn’s fifth win in six games.
“We know coming in that they really ain’t got no paint presence. So we’re just trying to attack the basket.”
That was a characteristically blunt Day’Ron Sharpe, speaking with YES Network’s Meghan Triplett at halftime of Brooklyn Nets vs. Charlotte Hornets on Monday night.
Sharpe may have a been a bit too dismissive of third-year center Moussa Diabaté, who the Hornets just rewarded with a three-year contract. Diabaté, a skinny but very lively 6’10”, muscled his way to 21 and 10 with two blocks on the night, though his production dipped after lob-thrower extraordinaire LaMelo Ball exited with an ankle tweak.
But while Diabaté impressed, Sharpe’s larger point was correct. Diabaté wasn’t enough of a force to consistently dominate the paint — over the first three quarters, Brooklyn shot 60% inside the arc. (Plus, his largest teammate was 39-year-old Taj Gibson. Respectfully.)
So Sharpe dominated his minutes. While talking to Triplett, he had eight points on 4-4 shooting, including a couple put-backs. On the other end, he had affected multiple shots, including this fantastic block...
Sharpe would finish with 14/9/2/0/1, and was merely half of a fantastic center tandem.
Nic Claxton posted 16/4/1/1/2, and the malaise with which he started the season now seems like a distant memory. His play still isn’t quite where it was two seasons ago, but whether against formidable competition like the Houston Rockets or the very, very bad (and injured) Hornets, Clax is bringing the energy and focus. That’s a start.
Charlotte switched 1-through-5 frequently on Monday, and both Claxton and Sharpe did work inside. They sealed, called for the ball, and if they didn’t get it, they hit the glass hard, with Brooklyns winning the second-chance points battle 24-13. But if the bigs did get the ball, they made the right plays...
With the paint taken care of, Charlotte had no chance, particularly after LaMelo Ball’s injury.
Just as Nic Claxton’s season has taken a turn in the last few weeks, so has Brooklyn’s as a team. Over their last six games, they are 5-1, and any tanking dreams of catching the true dregs of the league, like Charlotte, have died.
In that same stretch, Brooklyn has the best defense in the league, no qualifier necessary. The lowest defensive rating, whether filtering out garbage time or not. They’re blocking the second-most shots in the league, allowing the lowest field-goal percentage, and above all, illustrating the difference between bad and terrible.
The Charlotte Hornets, now those guys are terrible...
After Ball went down, they did not feature a player nearly as good as Brooklyn’s center, nor Cam Johnson, Trendon Watford, D’Angelo Russell, and Ziaire Williams, all of whom scored in double-digits.
Brooklyn shot just 23.8% from deep, but at least flashed competent offense and ball-movement, including on these two of Cam Johnson’s 14 points...
(They were also weighed down by a 12-point fourth quarter in which the game had already been decided.)
The Hornets, meanwhile, shot an even worse 19.4% from three with none of the highlight plays. The Nets are not just playing some fantastic defense under Jordi Fernández, but they are stacked with plenty of real NBA players.
The Hornets are not, and window-dressed a 22-point deficit early in the fourth quarter with a few minutes of garbage time hustle. Pardon the deceivingly close score.
Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 97, Charlotte Hornets 89
Trendon Watford continues to ball
The Brooklyn Nets are now 10-7 when Trendon Watford plays, 10-8 if you include a December game against the Memphis Grizzlies where he appeared for single inbounds play.
While some of that is good luck, there’s no doubt Watford has boosted the team in four appearances since returning from a hamstring injury for the second time.
Following his 12-point performance in a victory against the Miami Heat, Watford put up 13/2/4 with zero turnovers on Monday, including shooting 3-of-5 from deep. Brooklyn won his minutes by a whopping 26 points, which felt appropriate...
For the time being, the 6’8 24-year-old has seized the backup point guard position.
Says Fernández: “He was at the primary-ball-handler-slash-point-guard — however you want to call it — and he did a great job. Is he going to do it the whole time? I don’t know. But you know, the good thing is, the more things you can do, the more opportunities that you will have to play minutes.”
Watford played some point guard last season, but his minutes were often cut short by two issues: turnovers, and a lack of 3-point shooting. Can’t have both those problems from a lead ball-handler.
Which makes his performance on Monday so encouraging, not only hitting three triples but the four assists to zero turnovers.
“[I’m] just growing game by game,” said Watford postgame. “Get more comfortable having the ball in my hands, get more comfortable watching film. I just think it was a part of growth from year three to year four ... just watching the film and getting better and seeing passes I should make and times I should be aggressive.”
Tyrese Martin, up against it
Tyrese Martin has been active for 49 of Brooklyn’s 53 games this season, though he didn’t touch the floor in 14 of those games. Why does that matter? Well, his limit as a two-way player for active games in a season is 50. (Not games played, but games where Martin dressed.)
The Nets could simply stick him in the G League for the remainder of the season, but with Ben Simmons no longer on the roster, they do have an open spot for convert the 25-year-old guard to a standard contract.
League sources tell NetsDaily that Brooklyn’s front office is calmly exploring all possible options. Lucky for Sean Marks & Co., they’ll have the week-long All-Star break to figure out Martin’s situation.
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/10/24363180/nets-vs-hornets-dayron-sharpe-moussa-diabata-97-89
Brooklyn Nets
Just Drafted
3 Takeaways from the Brooklyn Nets’ Latest Play-in Teasing Win over Hornets
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/11...-nets-latest-play-in-teasing-win-over-hornets
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
When you’re twice as close to the play-in as you are to a top-3 pick, and you’ve won five of six, well, things have changed.
As the trade deadline debris began to dissipate Friday night, we were treated to the sight of another gritty, thrilling, and (maybe?) counterproductive Brooklyn Nets win. Monday evening, with the dust completely settled despite the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets kicking some more up over the weekend, we got to see the team get another one ... much easier.
While the scoreboard advertised a rather close contest, the Nets inflated a sizable lead early before coasting to a win vs the Hornets. It’s a style of victory that’s evaded the team for much of the year. While fans might not be used to it, the players were ready and eager, to deliver it. Here’s what we learned in the process.
Watford is a Real Difference-Maker off the Bench
Swiss Army Knives rarely chip and shatter, even with some inconsistent usage. The one we have in Brooklyn is no different.
It took Trendon Watford some time to find his rhythm after returning from his second multi-game absence this year. But against the Miami Heat, when he served as an impromptu ball-handler while the team helped Ben Simmons pack his bags, the 24-year-old do-it-all forward danced his way to a 13/3/4 game including a steal and block.
Tonight, he kept the party going. Not only did he turn in another solid run from a box score perspective, finishing with 13/4/2 while shooting 4-of-8 from the field, but he also illustrated some development in his game that promises to deliver him more minutes going forward.
Watford’s first make of the night came on a triple he stepped into after trailing a fast break. Forcing the defense to respect his presence from deep and then leveraging it to support his teammates, Watford later pumped on a hard closeout before dishing the rock. It eventually found its way to an open Ziaire Williams beyond the arc. He splashed it in front of the Charlotte defense still a step behind.
“I’ve always had the ball in my hands a lot,” Watford said postgame. “When I was young, my pops wouldn’t let a coach put me in the post just because I was the biggest guy on the team. I’ve been having the ball in my hand a lot. Last year, I got a lot of reps at the one. It was my first time getting a lot of reps at the one in the league. I got comfortable with it. I enjoy being out there on the floor, period. Whether it’s at the one or the five or the three or whatever it is, I just enjoy being out there. Just trying to take advantage of it.”
Oh yeah, about two plays after that, Watford canned another one from the corner, putting the Nets up by what was their largest margin of the game at the time. He finished 3-of-5 from downtown tonight.
In a game where Brooklyn’s bench dominating Charlotte’s lifted the team to a win, Watford was the initial catalyst. After he checked in, the Nets went on a 17-10 run in the first which catapulted Brooklyn into a lead they never relinquished. He also finished as a team-best and career-high +26 for the game.
“It’s coming back,” Watford told Meghan Triplett postgame. “It feels good to get in rhythm and most importantly get a win in front of the home crowd.”
Between Cam Johnson’s nuclear year from three, impressive two-way player contributions, D’Angelo Russell’s return and fake ones from Simmons, it was probably easy to forget about the injured Watford, especially in a rebuilding year. Well, I’m here to say you shouldn’t have.
Team Basketball is In
The Nets have had five or more guys reach double figures in all but four games since exactly a month ago on January 10th. Tonight, they had six, including two players off the bench in Watford and Day’Ron Sharpe.
The latter got some help from the other team at the end. Shoutout to now 15-year pro Taj Gibson, who made his league debut when Sharpe was just seven.
Brooklyn’s offense operated freely, but it didn’t do so easily, as the Nets posted 40/29 splits for the night. Doing that and still winning paints a picture of a group of guys lifting each other through a tough shooting night rather than a collective brick fest. No matter how we as fans feel about the tank, we should all be able to get behind that: a team looking to rebuild its culture.
Offensive democracy is common amongst teams lacking a “go to guy.” Perhaps that changes when Cam Thomas comes back. Perhaps there’s a common ground the team can find between CT’s dynamic isolation scoring and their selflessness at both ends. We’ll have to wait and see, but for now, “team basketball” is very much in.
The Nets are Bad...Not Horrendous
The standings tell you the Brooklyn Nets are among the NBA’s worst teams. While that may be true, they’re not the worst, for better...or worse.
Brooklyn’s recent home loss to the Washington Wizards offers an immediate counterargument to this notion, but our evidence includes the fact that the Nets have now smoked Charlotte twice in two weeks. They swept Houston and snuck one out from under Miami’s nose too. Their defense has been the league’s best in almost every metric over that stretch as well.
No matter how you cut it up, things like that simply do not happen to someone who’s truly the runt of the litter.
After tonight, the Nets sit just one game away from cashing the “over” on the win total most sportsbooks projected for them to start the season — and everyone knows it.
“They doubted us,” Watford said. “Now, with one more game left before the break, we already passed what they had us at. So, shout out to the experts.”
Some of this collective punch back be attributed to Brooklyn pulling Cam Johnson off the shelves amid trade season. Jordi Fernández and the competitive nature he’s instilled deserves a nod as well. More recently, it’s been Nic Claxton looking more like his old self, anchoring that aforementioned defense better late than never.
Regardless, with about a third of the season — 29 games — left to go, I’ll go out on a limb and say they’ll get there.
Let me be clear, if you’re in the basement — you’re in the basement. It’s not a “flex” to be the one sitting closest to the staircase that’ll take you up. Regardless, the Nets being superior to the other teams in position to Capture the Flagg is a truth that’s been staring us in the face for too many days. We can’t keep looking away from it even as tank commanders try to obstruct our view like Yoren did to Arya Stark in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season one. (I don’t care if that show ended years ago, you’ll get no spoilers from me.)
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/11...-nets-latest-play-in-teasing-win-over-hornets
Brooklyn Nets
Just Drafted
Deadlines and Commitments: All-Star Break Edition
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/13/24365126/deadlines-and-commitments-all-star-break-edition
Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images
Cam Johnson will be in the 3-point contest but for the rest of the Nets, it will be a well-deserved rest, then the final third of the season.
It’ll be on to San Francisco for Cam Johnson but otherwise, it’ll be a week off for the rest of the Brooklyn Nets, then the final third of the season and beyond: maybe the play-in, the draft lottery, all those draft workouts, the McDonald’s All-American Game at Barclays : the Draft, free agency etc.
And not to be forgotten: the WNBA championship banner will be hung in the rafters at Barclays on May 17, the first Brooklyn championship since the Dodgers in 1955! The month of May will indeed be interesting: the NBA Draft Lottery is on May 12 and the banner raising five days later. Yikes!
Here’s the calendar:
—February 14-19: NBA All-Star Break. The 3-point contest is part of All-Star Saturday Night, February 15. CamJ will compete against Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks; Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons; Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers; Tyler Herro, Miami Heat; Buddy Hield, Golden State Warriors; and Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks. Best wishes.
—February 16: All-Star Game at Chase Center in San Francisco.
—March 1: Playoff Eligibility Waiver Deadline. Players seeking eligibility for playoffs must be waived by this date. Big day for players on bad teams wanting to be bought out and signed by contenders. Will Bojan Bogdanovic be available, ready?
—March 4: Deadline for signing two-way players. Nets have shuffled players in and out of two-way slots all season. If they sign Tyrese Martin and/or Tosan Evbuomwan to a standard deal, will they use their two-way slots to add other player(s).
—March 10: LeBron James and Luka Doncic make their only appearance at Barclays Center this season. Luka was supposed to be here with the Mavericks on March 31, but you know. A chance for D’Angelo Russell and Maxwell Lewis to shine and Dorian Finney-Smith to get his tribute video.
—March 13 - 14: Third two-game visit of Long Island’s “Les Nets” to suburban Montreal. So far, so good. The G League Nets drew an average of better than 6,600 fans to the first four games in Quebec.
—March 28: The Los Angeles Clippers come to Brooklyn with James Harden and Ben Simmons. Tribute video for Ben: Lotsa sweaters?
—March 31: The Mavericks will arrive in Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving is back. He’s always good for a quote and Jason Kidd will get his first look at the Vince Carter jersey hanging next to his in the rafters at Barclays Center.
—April 1: G League Playoffs begin. Not looking good for Long Island.
—April 1: McDonald’s All-American Game at Barclays Center. The Nets have a lot of picks going forward. Good way to get an early look and Ellie the Elephant will team up with Grimace for the game.
—April 13: NBA Regular Season ends. All 30 teams to play. Nets close out season vs. Knicks at Barclays Center. With the NBA season and March Madness over, the Nets will starting working out prospects, dozens of them.
—April 14 - WNBA Draft. New York has seventh pick in the first round unless they trade it and it has reportedly been on the block.
—April 15-18: NBA Play-In Tournament. Will the Nets make it? If they do and win a game, their first round pick will be No. 15.
—April 19: NBA Playoffs begin.
—April 29: WNBA Training Camp Begins
—May 9-11: G League Combine
—May 11-18: NBA Draft Combine. More draft workouts, more scouts in Chicago for all the measurements and scrimmages.
—May 12: NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago. Where will the Nets pick? Stock up on the Zanax.
—May 17: New York Liberty open defense of their WNBA title. Banner raising at Barclays Center!
—June 5: NBA Finals 2025 presented by YouTube TV begin. All games will be televised on ABC
—June 25-26: NBA Draft. 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 trade deadline, this has traditionally been Sean Marks most active period.
—June 29: Jalen Wilson, Keon Johnson have team options for 2025-26, Qualifying Offers must be extended to Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams before restricted free agency begins; 2025-26 Guarantee date for Maxwell Lewis.
—June 30: NBA teams may begin negotiating with all other upcoming free agents (beginning at 6 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.
—July 6: Free agent signings and Draft Day trades become official. Cam Johnson can be extended.
—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, Brooklyn should be one of the most interesting squads.
—July 17–21: WNBA All-Star Break
—July 19: WNBA All-Star Game
—August TBA: NBA schedule for 2025-26 is released.
—September 28: Rough starting date for training camp and Media Day. Teams that play preseason games overseas start earlier than other teams and the Nets 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
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/13/24365126/deadlines-and-commitments-all-star-break-edition
Brooklyn Nets
Just Drafted
Long Island Nets defeat Westchester Knicks, 119-117, but lose Dariq Whitehead
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/26...ester-knicks-119-117-but-lose-dariq-whitehead
Photo by Evan Yu/NBAE via Getty Images
The Nets won the Battle of the ‘Burbs Tuesday night and got within a win of .500 but Dariq Whitehead fell on his right leg and spent the rest of the game in crutches.
The Long Island Nets returned to the court on Tuesday night, hoping to stack wins as they make a push for a playoff spot. This time, Long Island found themselves in White Plains to take on the Westchester Knicks in a “Battle of the ‘Burbs” match-up.
Long Island came away with the gritty two-point win, 119-117 and celebrated Kendall Brown’s new two-way contract. But the big news coming out of this game was the loss of Dariq Whitehead. Early on in the second quarter, Whitehead took a hard foul and apparently injured his right leg. He remained in the game despite being in some obvious pain. But when the Nets came back on the court to begin the third, there was no sign of Whitehead.
Later, he was seen on the bench, but in crutches. The severity of his injury remains uncertain but Whitehead has had a series of foot and shin injuries that led to three surgeries between August 2022 and January 2024.
Whitehead was putting together a good game for himself before he went down. He picked up 10 points and connected on three of his six shot attempts, including hitting his one attempt from deep and both his attempts from the foul line. This comes two days after he had his G League high of 30 points.
If he’s healthy, Whitehead could play a pivotal role in their potential playoff push.
Meanwhile, Drew Timme had another lights-out performance against Westchester. Timme finished the game with 26 points, and 12 boards. The 6’10” 24-year-old connected on 12 of his 19 shot attempts but missed his 3-pointers. Timme continues to be just that, a double-double machine.
While Kendall Brown was signed to two-way contract for Brooklyn earlier in the day Timme continues to make a case for why he, too, should be in the NBA. He told NetsDaily last game that his driving force and motivation for all of these great performances was quite simple he “wants to be in the league.”
Long Island had a couple of unlikely players step up tonight in the absence of Tosan Evbuomwan and Reece Beekman and following Whitehead’s departure. Mark Armstrong, the 6’2” 21-year-old South Orange, N.J. native had a big game. Armstrong picked up 24 points, connecting on 11 of his 17 shot attempts, including two of four of his shot from three.
Tyson Etienne, himself a candidate for a two-way elsewhere in the NBA, had another big shooting night. The 6’2” 25-year-old finished with 20 points, shooting 7-of-15, including 6-of-11 from deep and handed out eight assists.
Perhaps the best performance of the night, though, came from Terry Roberts, the starting point guard for Long Island. Roberts finished the game with a triple-double, picking up 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Roberts also had three steals.
Brown who will remain with Long Island at least through Wednesday had a typical game of him with 17 points, nine boards and three assists.
The two teams opened the first quarter with close to 10 lead changes in the quarter. Despite keeping it close, Long Island dropped back at the end of the first and entered the second quarter down by seven. Long Island brought the game closer in the second and entered the half down by just three.
The third quarter continues to be the best one for Long Island as they took the lead and then some. The Nets entered the fourth quarter up by nine. After the two teams went back and forth one final time, but Long Island held on and picked up the gritty two-point win.
Next Up
The Long Island Nets (10-11) return to the court on Thursday, as they look to get back to .500 and gear up for their playoff push, to take on the Austin Spurs.
While we don’t know if Dariq Whitehead will play, stay tuned to NetsDaily’s and Scott Mitchell’s Twitter for news on the Whitehead injury and more. The game tips off at noon ET and can be watched on ESPN+.
Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/2/26...ester-knicks-119-117-but-lose-dariq-whitehead