Flying high! That’s the JetBlue A320 painted in Nets colors. Note the undercarriage! Nice symbol for the Nets rising fortune. Sky’s the limit.
Now, with the trade deadline two and a half weeks away, the Nets will have a lot of decisions to make on the club’s direction. It should be eventful and more fun than it’s been for a long while. Also, we’ve included WNBA dates related to the New York Liberty.
February 1 - WNBA free agency begins. Let’s see what Joe Tsai does with the New York Liberty, the latest piece in the Nets growing basketball network.
February 4 — The Bucks and Brook Lopez are in town, his first game with Milwaukee at Barclays. Earlier in the day, at 11 a.m. to be precise, the Long Island Nets will play the Fort Wayne Mad Ants at Barclays, their only Brooklyn appearance.
February 6 - NetsDaily’s 15th anniversary. Yay! Here’s what we said about the site on our 10th anniversary.
February 7 -- NBA Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET)
February 15-17 -- NBA All-Star 2019. Charlotte, NC. Lots of candidates for either skill sessions (Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris), Rising Stars Challenge (Rodions Kurucs and Jarrett Allen) or maybe even a place on the East team (D’Angelo Russell).
February 21 — G League trade deadline. Long Island likes to accumulate picks so they can trade for players’ G League rights. Currently, they hold G League rights to Marshall Plumlee (who’s in the National Guard); Nick Zeisloft (playing in Italy); and Jamaal Franklin (playing in China).
March 1 -- Playoff Eligibility Waiver Deadline. Players waived after this date are ineligible for the playoffs. Big buyout deadline.
March 23 — NBA G League regular season ends.
March 26-April 12 — NBA G League Playoffs. Long Island has never made the playoffs, but have a great shot this season.
April 10 -- Regular Season ends. Luxury taxes calculated for teams over the tax threshold. The Nets are currently about $8.5 million short of the luxury tax threshold. Hard to imagine the Nets going over the threshold this year, knowing they may have to go over in future years ... and as Mikhail Prokhorov knows, if you’re over the threshold for several years —a “repeat offender,” you get hit a lot harder.
April TBD — WNBA Draft
April 14 — NBA Playoffs begin. Nets currently hold 6th seed and would play the Pacers, currently the third seed.
April 17-20 — Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Portsmouth, Va. College seniors show their wares to NBA scouts and hope for summer league and training camp invites. Select few get NBA Combine invites.
May 14 — NBA Draft Lottery, Chicago. New lottery odds apply for the first time. Maybe we won’t care for the first time since 2015.
May 14-19 -- NBA Draft Combine 2019, Chicago. Sixty prospects get measured, interviewed and otherwise scrutinized.
May 24 — New York Liberty opens WNBA season at Westchester County Center. Joe Tsai has reportedly agree to buy them. Will they remain in Westchester? Change their name ... their colors?
June 20 — NBA Draft, Brooklyn, NY. Hope for hometown advantage. Nets currently have the 16th (their own); 27th (Nuggets) and 32nd (Knicks) picks.
June 14 - No-trade restriction lifts on Spencer Dinwiddie. Since the deadline has already passed, he can’t be traded till July 6. Not that that’s likely.
June 24 - Team option deadline for Shabazz Napier ($1.8 million) and Treveon Graham ($1.6 million).
June 29 — Player option deadline for Allen Crabbe.
June 29 — Qualifying offer deadline for Rondae-Hollis Jefferson, D’Angelo Russell. By making qualifying offer, the Nets will hold on to their rights, making them restricted free agents. But both have big capholds: $7.4 million for RHJ and $21.1 million for DLo.
June 30 — Contracts for DeMarre Carroll ($15.4 million) and Jared Dudley ($9.5 million) expire. Nets commitment to Dwight Howard ($18.9 million) ends. Nets still have one more year of stretch payments ($5.5 million) to Deron Williams.
July 1 — NBA Free Agency begins. Negotiations are not supposed to begin until now, but signings get announced minutes after midnight. Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
July 6 — July moratorium ends (12 noon ET) Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades. The Nets could have enough for at least one, maybe two, max players, depending on what they do at the deadline among other things.
October 10-12 — Nets and Lakers travel to China for the NBA China Games where they’ll play two games vs. the Lakers in Shanghai and Shenzhen.