Deadlines and Commitments - No. 113

It’s all draft and free agency now. Undergraduate college players and international players had until Monday to declare for the Draft. They can opt out in June as long as they don’t hire an agent, which some have already done. It’s three weeks till the lottery and almost nine weeks till the Draft. We update draft order and add a few things about Nets own free agents.

Here ya go...

May 15 - NBA Draft Lottery (Chicago). No need for Nets fans to tune in, unless it’s out of curiosity or a masochistic bent. The Nets pick, now in the hands of the Cavaliers, is eighth overall, giving Cleveland a 2.8 percent chance at the overall No. 1. If it holds at No. 8, Cavaliers would wind up with someone like Mikal Bridges of Villanova.

May 16 - NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. The top 60 college prospects are invited for tryouts, measurements, medical checks, interviews, etc. Moreover, conversations among GM’s that start here can lead to transactions at the Draft and afterwards. This is where the Kidd-for-Marbury trade discussions between Rod Thorn and Jerry Colangelo began in 2001. Every GM is likely to be on hand.

June 2-5 - NBA Elite International Camp (Treviso, Italy). The European version of the NBA Draft Combine. For the first time, this camp will be run by the NBA, not adidas. It will feature at least 40 NBA prospects and like the Draft Combine, reps from every NBA team. More tryouts, measurements, medical checks, interviews ... and conversations between GM’s.

June 11 - NBA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET) Last day underclassman and some international players can opt out of the Draft.

June 21 - NBA Draft. The Nets have the Raptors lottery-protected pick in the first round, the Lakers and Bucks second round picks. All that said, the Nets currently hold the 29th (Raptors), 40th (Lakers) and 45th (Bucks) picks. The Nets secured all those picks in trades, the first two in the DeMarre Carroll for Justin Hamilton deal with Toronto last July; the third in return for Tyler Zeller at the deadline.

The Cavaliers have their Nets own first rounder, which is eighth, and the 76ers their second rounder, now 38th. The Lottery of course could impact the Cavs pick.

June 25 - 2018 NBA Awards are announced. Don’t expect any Nets to win, but the votes for each award will be released as well. How did Spencer Dinwiddie do in Most Improved, Jarrett Allen in Rookie of the Year?

June 28-July 1 - FIBA World Cup Qualifiers Americas. Juan Pablo Vaulet, the Nets 6’7” stash from the 2015 Draft plays for Argentina in the final round of qualifiers for the World Cup 2019. Argentina will play Panama and Uruguay.

June 29-July 2 - FIBA World Cup Qualifiers Europe. Aleksandar Vezenkov, the Nets 6’9” stash from the 2017 Draft plays for Bulgaria in final round of qualifiers for World Cup 2019. Bulgaria must beat the Czech Republic and Iceland to qualify.

June 29 - Nets can tender Nik Stauskas a $5.1 million qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent. Otherwise, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and the Nets can re-sign him if they wish. Should the Nets do the unlikely and make that qualifying offer, they have until July 13 to pull it.

June 30 - Nets can exercise their team option on Isaiah Whitehead ’s $1.5 million non-guaranteed salary for 2018-19. Because of a quirk in the CBA, the Nets would only save $700,000 in cap space. So expect Whitehead back. IF, on the other hand, the Nets waive him, it would suggest the Nets are clearing as much cap space as they can for some free agency move.

Also the final day for the Nets to spend their $5.1 million in cash considerations. Most of it is normally used on Draft Day deals. Last year was the first time in the Mikhail Prokhorov ownership era that the Nets did not use cash considerations to buy a pick. Before that, they had spent nearly $10 million to either acquire a pick or move up.

July 1 - Jahlil Okafor, Dante Cunningham, (presumably) Nik Stauskas, Quincy Acy, and Joe Harris become unrestricted free agents. Free Agency opens around the league with a five-day moratorium that permits negotiations but no signings.

July 5 - Free Agency Moratorium ends. Players can now put pen to paper.

July 6-17 - 2018 NBA Summer League (Las Vegas) All 30 teams in one league for the first time.