Deadlines and Commitments - No. 128

Nets fans are focused on the playoffs —as they rightly should be— but the off-season will soon be upon us ... whenever those playoff dreams end, either with a failure to make the post-season or at some point deeper in the spring.

The Nets like every other NBA team has to plan for the Draft and free agency, which can last into late July or early August. The Nets last signing in 2018 was September 24 when they signed Alan Williams as a two-way.

So, here ya go.

March 26-April 12 — NBA G League Playoffs. Long Island had never made the playoffs before this season, but are in the Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday night.

April 6 — Last day a team can sign a player to a 10-day deal.

April 10 -- Regular Season ends. Luxury taxes calculated for teams over the tax threshold. The Nets are currently about $6 million short of the luxury tax threshold. Hard to imagine the Nets doing anything to get them remotely close to the threshold this later in the 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 —you become a “repeat offender” and get hit a lot harder.

April 10 — WNBA Draft. New York Liberty, owned by Nets minority investor Joe Tsai, currently has the second overall pick. Draft takes place at the Nike New York Headquarters.

April 14 — NBA Playoffs begin. Nets currently hold 7th seed and would play the 76ers, 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 9 - New York Liberty play the Chinese national women’s team at Barclays Center, the Liberty’s debut at what ultimately may be their new home.

May 14 — NBA Draft Lottery, Chicago. New lottery odds apply for the first time. Hopefully, we’ll all be observers only.

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. With the exception of two games, the Liberty will play in Westchester this season. Those two are likely to be played in Brooklyn. Then in 2019-20, they’ll be in new digs.

June 20 — NBA Draft, Brooklyn, NY. Hope for hometown advantage. Nets currently have the 16th (their own); 27th (Nuggets) and 31st (Knicks) picks. Also, once the draft is concluded, summer league invitations will go out to undrafted players.

June 14 - No-trade restriction lifts on Spencer Dinwiddie. Since the trade deadline has already passed, he can’t officially be traded till July 6. Not that that’s likely at the moment.

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 payroll commitment to Dwight Howard ($18.9 million) and Kenneth Faried ($13.3 million) end. Nets still owe 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 5-July 15 — NBA Summer League, Las Vegas, NV. All 30 teams will be represented.

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.

August 31-September 15 - FIBA World Cup, China. No word on who might be playing or not playing for their national teams among Nets players, stashes — or future picks. Latvia (Rodions Kurucs) and Bosnia (Dzanan Musa) didn’t qualify. Will Weaver, the Long Island head coach, is an assistant coach for the Australian national team.

September TBD — Training camp opens. Teams like the Nets who will play preseason games overseas get a head start over the other clubs.

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.