With only a few legal formalities standing between Mikhail Prokhorov and the Nets, the team is now fully engaged in preparing for a new coach, busy nights on May 18 (Draft Lottery) and June 24 (Draft) and an even busier week starting July 1 (Free Agency). Here's a list of key dates for the ownership transfer, NBA Draft and free agency...after the jump.
April 25 - NBA Draft Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET).April 29 - NBA Teams can conduct or attend workouts with Early Entrants.
May 7 - Deadline for residents and businesses to leave the Barclays Center footprint. Mikhail Prokhorov approval as Nets owner expected within days of the deadline.
May 8 - NCAA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5:00 p.m. ET)
May 14 - Premiere for "Just Wright" the Nets-centric movie with Queen Latifah and Common.
May 18 – Before a conference championship game, representatives of the 14 non-playoff teams gather in Secaucus for the NBA Draft lottery. Prokhorov is expected to be on the dias representing the Nets.
May 19-23 - NBA Pre-Draft Combine in Chicago. Fifty-two top prospects gather in Chicago the morning after the Lottery to be measured and interviewed, then show off their skills to NBA GM's. Top picks usually only stay long enough to be measured.
June 5-7 - Adidas Eurocamp. Although this is not seen as a big year for Europeans players, the best will gather in Treviso, just outside Venice, for the international version of the Pre-Draft combine.
June 14 - International Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5:00 p.m. ET)
June 24 – NBA Draft, Madison Square Garden, New York (7:00 p.m. ET). Nets' $1.37 million trade exception, the remainder of the Vince Carter trade exception, expires.
June 29-30 -- Nets must exercise team options for Keyon Dooling ($3.82 million with a $500,000 buyout) and Chris Douglas-Roberts ($854,389). Kris Humphries must exercise his player option ($3.2 million). Contracts for Rod Thorn and Kiki Vandeweghe as well as the rest of the Nets' coaching staff expire. Of front office and coaching staffs, only Bobby Marks, Thorn's VP of basketball operations, has a contract beyond June 30.
June 30 - Deadline for two businesses to leave the larger Atlantic Yards footprint. One of the buildings in question will be used as office space for construction operations.
July 1 - NBA teams can begin negotiating with free agents. Expect reports of signings almost immediately. Nets can renounce cap holds for players with expiring contracts.
July 8 - NBA teams can officially begin signing free agents.