Brooklyn Nets part ways with Xavier Thames

Xavier Thames, whose draft rights cost the Nets $500,000 two years ago, will not play for the team.  Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports tweeted that the Nets has decided not to keep his rights, making him a free agent.

Brooklyn has declined to extend non-guarantee tender to 2014 pick Xavier Thames, losing his rights and making him UFA, sources tell Yahoo.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 10, 2015

Teams must offer second round picks a tender this week or lose their rights.  The Nets had originally considered bringing the 6'3" San Diego product to training camp, but this forecloses that option. Thames, who split last season between Sevilla in Spain and Fort Wayne in the D-League, did not impress in summer league either of the last two years.

Some teams will hang on to players' rights for years in hopes of using them as trade ballast.  Indeed, the Nets used the rights to two European second rounders, Ilkan Karaman and Edin Bavcic, to facilitate the three-deal that brought the Nets Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev last year.  The Nets currently hold the rights to only one player, Juan Vaulet, of Argentina, for whom many in the organization have high hopes.

Thames and Cory Jefferson were chosen with the last two picks in the 2014 Draft after the Nets paid the Raptors and Spurs a total of $800,000 on Draft Night in 2014.  Earlier that night, the Nets bought the rights to Markel Brown, paying the Timberwolves $1.1 million.  The Nets have regularly bought second rounders since the team was purchased by Mikhail Prokhorov.  Of the seven players whose rights the Nets bought --at a total cost of $7.5 million, only Brown, Bojan Bogdanovic and Vaulet are still Nets property.