Shams: Nets ‘already very active’ in trade market

In his video preview of the Nets 2018-19 season, posted Saturday, Shams Charania says Brooklyn’s new flexibility across the board has them prioritizing free agency next summer, as well as being “very active in the trade market” ... now.

Without discussing any possibilities Sean Marks might pursue, other than looking at Jimmy Butler’s situation in Minnesota, Charania emphasized he was talking about the present.

“Their biggest strength this coming year is finally having the flexibility as a franchise —whether in their salaries, in their assets, as far as draft picks — to finally be players in free agency, in trades.

“They’re going to prioritize free agency in 2019 and they’re already being very active in the trade market. They’ve made the pursuit of Jimmy Butler although no team has found success in that lane. But they have been active in their pursuits of trades and they will be active in free agency in 2019.”

Charania, , now with The Athletic, says he does not believe the Nets will extend either D’Angelo Russell or Rondae Hollis-Jefferson before Monday’s deadline for such extensions, but rather will wait till the summer.

“Until then, they’re going to have a lot of decisions to make about whether that young nucleus is the one they want to go to for the next few seasons.”

The Nets currently can’t trade the players they picked up in free agency this past summer. No-trade restrictions don’t lift on Treveon Graham, Theo Pinson, Ed Davis and Shabazz Napier until December 15 and on Joe Harris until January 15. And the Nets can’t talk to Spencer Dinwiddie on an extension until December 8, although they can trade him before then.

That leaves a number of big salaries available for moves, including Allen Crabbe, DeMarre Carroll and Jared Dudley as well as players like Russell, Hollis-Jefferson and Caris LeVert, all on rookie deals.