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Life comes at you fast in May if you’re an NBA fan. There’s the playoffs (if you’re into that sort of thing), the Pre-Draft Combine, the Draft Lottery, the Euroleague Final Four, draft prospect workouts, the final deadline for college underclassmen to sign an agent or go back to school, etc.
So here’s a guide to the rest of May and beyond. Hold on tight.
May 9-14 - NBA Draft Combine 2017. Sixty players gather in Chicago for a camp that will help determine how teams will pick and choose on Draft Night. Every team will be represented, of course. Most GM’s lead their team’s contingent. There are measurements and 5-on-5 play and interviews. Even injured players show up. It was here last year that Sean Marks said he decided Caris LeVert would be a Brooklyn Net.
Mid- May - NBA teams including the Nets, bring draft prospects in for workouts. The Nets do not publicize workouts, but word often leaks out. A couple of names we know include Rashawn Thomas, a 6’8” forward from Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, and Tyler Dorsey, Oregon’s 6’4” guard.
May 16 - NBA Draft Lottery, New York. Steel yourself. The Nets and Celtics must swap picks this year. The Celtics have the most chances at the overall No. 1, 25 percent, meaning there’s a 75 percent chance they won’t. So there’s that consolation. Next year, of course, the Nets pick goes to the Celtics straight up. No swap, no compensation.
May 19-21 - Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul. Nets scouts will be overseas once again, watching the best clubs compete in weekend much like the NCAA Final Four. No best of seven in the Euroleague. Yes, CSKA Moscow and Milos Teodosic will be one of the four.
May 25 - College underclassmen will have until today to withdraw without losing their college eligibility, per an NCAA rule change. So if you go into the combine without hiring an agent, you have until today to make the final decision on whether to go all-in with the draft or return to school. Right now, that group includes Hamidou Diallo of Kentucky and Tony Bradley of North Carolina, both of whom the Nets have interviewed at the Combine.
June 9-11 - adidas Eurocamp, Treviso, Italy. The Pre-Draft mini-camp for international players. Teams travel to this city near Venice for the annual adidas showcase for mainly European players. With so many international players likely to be tagged in the 2017 NBA Draft, expect a big showing from players and scouts alike.
June 22 - NBA Draft. It hasn’t been announced yet, but Barclays Center is all but certain to host the draft for the fifth straight year. Perhaps a concessionaire could market Billy King face masks? The Nets will have two picks in the late 20’s, the Wizards pick at No. 22 and the the Celtics pick at 27.
The Nets don’t have their own second rounder, which goes to Atlanta, but will have the Celtics pick, No. 57. The Nets could also buy a second rounder. They have $3.4 million available. Last year, the Nets bundled the 55th pick with $3 million to move up to No. 42 and take Isaiah Whitehead. With the new CBA permitting up to 17 players on next year’s rosters, including two-way players who will split their time between NBA and D-League rosters, expect second rounders to be more valuable, more costly.
June 24 - Nets must inform K.J. McDaniels whether they will exercise his team option for 2017-18. If so, his $3,476,873 contract goes into effect on July 1.
June 30 - Joe Harris and Sean Kilpatrick’s $1,051,245 guarantees for 2017-18 kick in. Team option on both.
July 1 - Free agency begins. Teams can contact free agents with offers starting at 12 midnight. Under new CBA, teams can tender offer sheets to restricted free agents on July 1 as well. The player’s current team has 48 hours, rather than the current 72, to match. But no more “poison pill” deals like the one Brooklyn offered Tyler Johnson. That was eliminated.
July 4 - No-trade restriction lifts on Archie Goodwin.
July - Spencer Dinwiddie’s contract guarantees for $50,000 for 2017-18 if he participates in summer league and summer conditioning program.
July 7 - Free agents can officially be signed. Press conferences are held. Jerseys are held up.
July 7 to 17 - NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. Will the Nets participate? We think so. Again, nothing’s been announced yet. Expect to see a lot of the young Nets, D-Leaguers and of course draft picks. Road trip?
July 16 - Quincy Acy’s $1,709,538 guarantees for 2017-18 unless the Nets tell refuse to exercise his team option. Contracts like Acy’s can be ideal for Draft Night trades. A team needing to match salaries can take on a player with a July option, then waive him.
August 25 to September 3 — FIBA Americas Cup. Canada’s Andrew Nicholson and Argentina’s Juan Pablo Vaulet are likely to play for their national teams.
August 31 to September 17 — Eurobasket 2017. As of now, only one player on the roster is eligible: Justin Hamilton who has dual U.S. - Croatian nationality. He has been non-committal about playing for Croatia. With all the Nets scouting in Europe, expect there to be other Nets participating. Also, it will be assistant coach Chris Fleming’s last turn as Germany’s national team coach.
September 10 - Nets must renew their offers to any stashed players. As of now, that means Juan Pablo Vaulet. Of course, if the Nets sign him this summer to either a Brooklyn or Long Island deal, no need for the letter. And if they draft and stash on June 22, those players get offers too.
October 31 - Spencer Dinwiddie’s salary guarantees at $250,000 for 2017-18. Archie Goodwin’s salary guarantees at $200,000 for 2017-18.
October 31 - Nets must exercise rookie options for Rondae-Hollis Jefferson and Caris LeVert, fourth year for RHJ, third year for CLV.
January 10 - All partially and non- guaranteed deals become fully guaranteed, specifically in the Nets case for Dinwiddie and Goodwin if they remain with the team.