3 available free-agents that the Brooklyn Nets can still pursue
The Brooklyn Nets have made it through free-agency and have made some solid moves along the way. They were able to create some salary relief through the trades of Joe Harris (to the Detroit Pistons) and Patty Mills (to the Houston Rockets) that could be useful later.
When it comes to pure free-agency, Brooklyn was able to take care of the necessary business. They re-signed wing Cam Johnson which was arguably their most important task this offseason with added pressure from budding guard Mikal Bridges. With Johnson’s contract taken care of, they were able to add some guard depth in Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV.
Johnson agreed to a four-year, $108 million contract, Smith Jr. agreed to a one-year, $2.53 million deal, and Walker IV took a one-year offer. With all of the moves that the Nets have made thus far in the offseason, they still have options in terms of bringing more players and here are three available free-agents that are still available for them to consider:
Christian Wood
I suggested Wood recently because of his ability to be a stretch-big while on the floor. He has some versatility to play as the center when Nic Claxton is out of the game and can pose a challenge for defenses who want to pack the paint against Spencer Dinwiddie’s drives to the basket.
Wood is not a good defender and has a reputation as a bad teammate so those are a couple of factors that go against signing him. However, at this point, the Nets could use their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception to sign Wood since he made similar money last season.
Will Barton
Barton is an interesting player to ponder given that he may be out of Brooklyn’s price range, but can take a lesser contract in order to be part of a team that is trying as competitive as possible in the Eastern Conference. He ended the 2022-23 season with the Toronto Raptors, but with the trade of guard Fred VanVleet and rumors of forward Pascal Siakam being available for trade, Barton may want to go to a team with playoff aspirations.
Barton had one of the worst seasons of his career last season as he averaged 6.8 points per game between his time with the Washington Wizards and the Raptors. He is older at this point of his career so he could provide some veteran leadership along with some bench scoring and ballhandling ability and if he comes cheap enough, he could be a low-risk, high-upside kind of move.
Mohamed Bamba
Mo Bamba is another player who can play in multiple lineups due to his ability to shoot the three-ball. Unfortunately, he has not been able to regain the form that he had during the 2021-22 season when he had a career-year of 10.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 48% from the field and 38.1% from three-point land.
A combination of injuries and lack of playing time have contributed to his lower numbers from this past season, but the 25 year-old still has some promise as a stretch-five who can block shots from the weak side. Given how this past season went for him, Brooklyn could get him on the cheap and if he stays healthy, Bamba could be a third big to use if needed.
