Moving Williams and Johnson now Nets big goal, says Youngmisuk

With the draft seen as a success and the first few hours of free agency a win as well, the Nets are trying to solve their biggest problem: reducing their salary by finding someone to take their two big bucks backcourt players, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams.

Tweets Ohm Youngmisuk...

With Brook/Thad back in mix, Nets brass' goal is moving Deron + Joe before season sources say. Nets can’t find a suitor for Deron as of now

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) July 1, 2015

The Nets reportedly had discussions with Memphis about the Grizzlies taking on Johnson's expiring $24.9 million deal, but there's differing opinions on whether the deal is still alive. Such a trade would bring Jeff Greene and others to Brooklyn.

As for D-Will, there doesn't appear to much movement, with Ian Eagle telling WFAN's Evan Roberts that the issue for the Nets "is going to be whether they try to do everything in their power to trade him or at some point just decide they've got to cut bait and move on without him."

On Wednesday night, as the Kings moved contracts to free up cap space for big free agents, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee suggested there was now room for D-WIll in the California capital.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yes the Kings can take on a big contract (like Deron Williams), too. More flexibility for sure.</p>&mdash; Jason  Jones (@mr_jasonjones) <a href="https://twitter.com/mr_jasonjones/status/616475726640840704">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
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The Nets would need to move one or more of the pair to get close to the luxury tax threshold, which could be as high as $85 million. In addition to saving Mikhail Prokhorov millions, such a move would give the Nets more flexibility in that they could use the full MLE, the biannual exception, expected to be close to $3 million and the sign-and-trade option.

In other free agent news. Ian Begley of ESPN New York tweets that the Nets are among three teams interested in Lance Thomas, the defensive-minded small forward who played with the Knicks last season.

#Knicks have been in touch with forward Lance Thomas about a new deal, per sources. Spurs and Nets have also expressed interest in Thomas.

— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) July 1, 2015