Deadlines and Commitments - No. 112

This time next week, the season will be over and fans will be talking in earnest about the Draft and Free Agency. As other teams play in the post-season, the Nets will be focused on next season’s roster. Off-season starts now.

April 8 - Things begin Sunday at Barclays Center when the nation’s elite high schoolers gather in Brooklyn for the Jordan Brand Classic. Nets scouts will be on hand to check out who might be available for the 2019 NBA Draft when the Nets will control their first rounder for the first time since 2013.

April 11-14 - Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (Portsmouth, VA). The annual tryouts for college seniors looking for summer league tryouts and training camp invites. Nets discovered Milton Doyle at PIT a year ago

April 11 - NBA Regular Season ends.

April 12 - Normally, the day after the end of regular season is when ties for draft position are broken by lot. Unlike the playoff seedings, where tiebreakers like conference records and head-to-heads matter, Draft position is all about good fortune.

April 13 - Rosters set for NBA Playoffs 2018, 3 p.m. ET

April 14 - NBA Playoffs 2018 begin.

April 22 - NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET) College underclassmen can officially declare for the draft, but can still withdraw if they don’t hire an agent.

May 15 - NBA Draft Lottery (Chicago). No need for Nets fans to tune in, unless it’s out of curiosity or a masochistic bent. As of April 3, the Nets pick, now in the hands of the Cavaliers, is seventh overall.

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

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, etc.

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 less favorable of the Lakers and Magic picks in the second round, which will be the Lakers and if the Bucks second round pick falls between 31st and 47th picks, as expected, it will go to the Nets. All that said, the Nets currently hold the 29th (Raptors), 40th (Lakers) and 44th (Bucks) picks.

The Cavaliers have their Nets own first rounder, which is currently seventh, and the 76ers their second rounder, now 37th. 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 offer Nik Stauskas a $5.1 million qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent. Unlikely. Otherwise, he becomes an unrestricted free agent, The Nets can re-sign him if they wish.

June 30 - Nets can exercise their team option on Isaiah Whitehead ’s $1.5 million non-guaranteed salary for 2018-19. 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.

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.