Things are heating up.
We are 12 days away from the NBA Draft --and the first FIBA game for a Nets player. Bojan Bogdanovic will play a "friendly" game with Team Croatia the afternoon of the draft. Wayne Ellington still hasn't decided on his player option, which he must do in the next 18 days. The Nets have to inform Jarrett Jack if they're going to keep him next year --at a cost of $5.8 million in salary cap space-- in 19 days. That means free agency starts in three weeks from yesterday.
One negative: Juan Pablo Vaulet, who was expected to play in the FIBA South American championships, opted out of training for that competition. He needed to rest his surgically repaired ankle. Might he play in the Olympics? He might but it's doubtful.
Draft workouts and free agent mini-camps continue as does the hiring of various staff. Expect two more assistant coaches to be named for the Nets as well as one for the Long Island Nets.
Busy time.
June 13 -- NBA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5:00 p.m. ET). Overseas players must decide where they are staying in the draft.
June 15 -- Thomas Robinson must decide on his $1,050,961 million player option for 2016-17. Alex Kennedy says he's opting out, becoming an unrestricted free agent.
June 20 -- Bojan Bogdanovic and his Croatian national team play Canada in a "friendly" -- or exhibition-- game in Croatia.
June 23 -- Bojan Bogdanovic and his Croatian national team play the Czech Republic in a "friendly" -- or exhibition-- game in Croatia.
June 23 -- NBA Draft at Barclays Center. No first rounder. Nets have to swap second rounders with the Clippers. The difference? A lot, 21 places, from No. 34 to 55. The Nets will also likely buy a pick or two, as they have every year but 2013 since Prokhorov bought the team. Those second rounders could be signed to a Long Island Nets contract with the Nets retaining the players' NBA rights.
June 26 -- Bojan Bogdanovic and his Croatian national team play Canada again in a"friendly" -- or exhibition-- game in Croatia.
June 27 -- Trade exception of $1,357,080 from the Mason Plumlee trade expires. If it's going to be used, expect it to be used on Draft Night.
June 29 -- Two Nets with player options for 2016-17 must decide on whether to exercise them: Shane Larkin and Wayne Ellington are owed a total of $3,067,000. Kennedy says Larkin will opt out as well. No word yet on Ellington, who has been seen working out at HSS Training Center.
June 30 -- Nets must decide whether to exercise a $6.3 million team option on Jarrett Jack or pay Jack a $500,000 guarantee. The decision should be easy, particularly after Jack's devastating knee injury.
June 30 -- Last day the Nets can make Markel Brown and Willie Reed restricted free agents. They must offer Brown $1,180,431 for 2016-17 and Reed $1,215,696. Brown is likely, Reed obviously is not.
July 1 -- Free agency begins. The Nets are expected to have around $45 million to play with, the seventh most in the NBA. Teams can contact but not yet sign free agents. However, rumors of signings start to leak out just after midnight. Biggest stars decide first.
July 4 - 9 -- Croatia (Bojan Bogdanovic) and Italy (Andrea Bargnani) will face off in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Torino, Italy. It will be difficult for either to advance to the Olympics. Competition is tough.
July 6 - Moratorium on signings ends. According to Woj, the NBA and NBPA have agreed to move the date for signings up from July 12. Teams can officially sign free agents. Nets can sign Juan Pablo Vaulet.if they want. This is also the date when the official salary cap and luxury tax figures are released following an audit
July 8 - 18 -- Las Vegas Summer League. Nets won't participate in Orlando Summer League this year, ending a decade-long run in the Magic-run league. Last summer, the Nets participated in both Orlando and Las Vegas. Expect Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Chris McCullough, Sean Kilpatrick and Markel Brown (if signed) to play as well as any players drafted two weeks before.
July 13 -- Trade exception of $2,170,465 from the Steve Blake trade to Detroit expires. Actually, with every team jumping in cap space, this TE has to be used by June 30 or it's worthless.
August 5 - 21 -- Rio Olympics. As of now, no Nets player is likely to play. Will Weaver, Kenny Atkinson's special assistant, is an assistant coach for Team Australia. He's currently the only Net player or staff likely to have a role in Rio. Juan Pablo Vaulet essentially opted out of Team Argentina this week, saying he needed the rest.
August 14 -- D-League National Tryouts at Basketball City in New York. Players from around the country gather to see if they can get a D-League contract. Normally, about 30 of the 220 entrants find their way onto a D-League roster. Most recent tryout alumni to get an NBA contract: Jonathon Simmons of the Spurs. Registration is $350.
August 31 -- Stretch payment deadline. If the Nets wanted to stretch a player, they must do it by this date.
August 31 - September 17 -- FIBA Europe Qualifying Round will play out at various venues. European national teams who didn't make the Olympics or the Olympic qualifying round must compete for places in the FIBA Eurobasket in 2017. New assistant coach Chris Fleming is head coach of German national team so expect him to be over there.
Early September - D-League expansion draft usually takes place around now. The three new clubs - The Long Island Nets, WIndy City Bulls and Greensboro Swarm -- will get a shot at grabbing players from a pool of unprotected players among the league's established teams.
September 10 -- If the Nets don't sign Juan Pablo Vaulet, they must extend him non-guarantee tender by this date or lose his rights and make him an unrestricted free agent. It's highly likely they will retain his rights.
October 1 -- Training camps open with Media Day.
October 11 -- Nets travel to Miami to play the Heat in a preseason game, only one scheduled so far. It will be the farthest the Nets will travel for a preseason game in years. Normally, the team sticks to the Northeast.
Early November - D-League draft. This is a conference call affair, nothing like the big league's extravaganza. The L.I. Nets will have picks.
Mid-November - Long Island Nets open their first season in Barclays Center. Expect it to be a double-header with the Brooklyn Nets.