Deadlines and Commitments - No. 114

Yo, it’s the NBA Draft Lottery and you don’t have to plan your Tuesday night around it! Billy King saw to that. This will be the third straight lottery where a Nets pick will be in play. Next year, for the first time since 2013, the Nets will have their own pick. Nothing that happens Tuesday will effect any of the Nets three picks.

It’s the start of a busy five weeks leading up to the Draft. On Wednesday, prospects and NBA executives, scouts, sports psychologists, etc will gather in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine. When the Nets contingent returns from Chi-Town, they’ll be watching round after round of workouts at HSS Training Center. In past, the Nets have worked out players right up until the morning of the Draft.

Here’s your updated calendar...

May 15 - NBA Draft Lottery (7:30 p.m. ESPN). 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 14 - 15 - NBA G-League Elite Mini Camp in Chicago. Approximately 40 G-League alums from the 2017–18 season will workout in Chicago front of NBA and G-League teams in search of the next opportunity. Scheduled just before the Draft Combine.

Kamari Murphy and Thomas Wimbush of the Long Island Nets will be on hand.

May 16 - 20 - 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.

May 30 - Last day an NCAA underclassman can withdraw from the draft and retain his college eligibility. A player who’s hired an agent automatically gives up his eligibility. A critical date for Nets planning since the 2019 Draft will be the first in six long years where the Nets have their own pick.

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 more conversations between GM’s.

June 11 - NBA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET) Last day 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 currently eighth but could change after the Lottery, and the 76ers hold their second rounder, now 38th, acquired in a 2014 salary dump that sent Andrei Kirilenko and Jorge Gutierrez down the Turnpike. The Cavs have a 2.6 percent chance of getting the overall No. 1.

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.

Also, Ronald Nored, the Long Island Nets head coach, will make his debut as a Team USA assistant coach. (The American and Argentine teams play in different venues.)

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 13 - Should the Nets tender Stauskas a qualifying offer, they can withdraw it at any time up to this date.

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

September 7 - Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2018 Enshrinement Ceremony. Jason Kidd and Rod Thorn will be in Springfield, Mass, at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.