The Brooklyn Nets come into the 2025 NBA offseason with by far the most cap space in the league along with having four first-round picks in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft. The draft capital speaks for itself, but Brooklyn has to find something to do with the extra money they have and it seems like they won’t be using some of it to take a chance on a young player.
“There is not a current expectation that the Brooklyn Nets are preparing an offer sheet for Kuminga,” The Athletic’s Anthony Slater wrote on Thursday. Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga is a restricted free-agent this summer and while he will draw attention from teams looking for a young player with his potential, the Nets will not be one of those teams trying to pry him from the Warriors.
“But there are signs Brooklyn could be willing to use its open cap space as a vehicle to execute multi-team trade scenarios this summer, league sources said,” Slater continued. One of the maid ideas that has been repeated is that Brooklyn may not use their cap space to sign a bunch of players, but rather absorb players that other teams may not want with the goal of adding something such as draft picks.
The Nets had two instances of using that strategy last season as they acquired De’Anthony Melton from the Warriors, after he was already ruled out for the season with a knee injury, and pulling off a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers for D’Angelo Russell. Brooklyn did not get any first-round picks out of those deals, but they received five second-round picks for their trouble.
From the reporting thus far, it seems like the Warriors would not break the bank to keep Kuminga, but they would do what they could to get something for him given that he is still a young player that may need a change of scenery. With that being said, the Nets could explore a sign-and-trade with the Warriors for Kuminga and Brooklyn may be able to get more from Golden State than just Kuminga.