Nets sign Bryce Brown and Josh Gray, both likely to be G League players

Amid a busy Sunday afternoon for the Nets organization, Brooklyn’s front office announced a pair of moves likely to help them fill out their G League roster. The Long Island Nets will open their season in Delaware against the Blue Coats on November 6.

The Nets signed NBA free agents Bryce Brown and Josh Gray, both 6’3” guards. Terms of the deals were not released but both are presumably Exhibit 9 or 10 training camp contracts. The Nets now have 20 players on their roster, the max. Both Brown and Gray will likely be waived, then subsequently signed to G League deals, and play out the season with Long Island at Nassau Coliseum.

Brown’s G League rights were acquired by the Nets in a September 13 deal with the Westchester Knicks. The Nets received his rights in exchange for Jaylen Hands, a Brooklyn draft pick in 2019. Brown, a 24-year-old Auburn product, played in nine games (two starts) for Westchester last season, averaging 5.4 points, 2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 17.1 minutes of play per contest.

Two years ago with Maine, the Celtics affiliate, Brown averaged 16.1 points 3.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a steal per game with shooting splits of 44/42/73. A 3-point specialist, LSU product hit a franchise record 11-of-11 three pointers for the Red Claws in a 43-point outburst.

The Nets acquired Gray’s G League rights ten days later from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in exchange for the rights to Justin Anderson, Just last year, he averred 13.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists in under 29 minutes per game for Indiana’s B-team.

Both Brown and Gray will make more money with this arrangement than if they had signed directly by Long Island.

During Long Island’s open tryouts, GM Matt Riccardi commented on the thought process behind the two acquisitions. “We think both of those guys are really good players that we’ve seen play before in the G League, we think they can fit into our style of play, then we can help them develop and grow just as much as they can help the development of the other players that we have on our roster,” he said.

Gray also played for the Brooklyn Nets’ Summer League team in 2019, and Riccardi says the organization was able to “get to know him really well at that time.”

The Nets signed the two shortly after officially waiving Edmond Sumner who they acquired earlier in the week with Indiana, acquiring a second round pick in the process. That brought the roster down to 18, permitting them to sign Brown and Gray.