Atlantic Notes: Nets, Thomas, Edgecombe, Bridges

The Nets still have significant cap space this summer, observes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link). The club is also still in a bit of a contract stalemate with restricted free agent guard Cam Thomas.

For now, including cap holds, Brooklyn has $28.1MM in available cap room, per Gozlan. Although Brooklyn has agreed to new deals with its own free agents, wing Ziaire Williams and center Day’Ron Sharpe, the agreements are not yet official.

Noting that those signings have been held up as Brooklyn looks into potential trades using its cap real estate, Gozlan proceeds to detail the mechanisms available to the Nets to bring back one or both players — and how a new Thomas contract could complicate matters.

At most, Brooklyn can only have $15,464,700 in cap room when the season hits, so one way or another, more money will be on the books for the Nets soon. How the team navigates these deals remains to be seen.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

• Although the Nets and Thomas appear to be far apart as their contract talks drag on, The New York Post’s Brian Lewis (subscriber link) submits strategies for the two sides hashing things out before the season. Lewis notes that, beyond agreeing to the offer Brooklyn has put on the table, Thomas could also decide to accept his qualifying offer and hit unrestricted free agency next summer. Lewis consulted with plugged-in sources about the advice they would give Thomas about the situation, if asked.
• Sixers rookie guard VJ Edgecombe received some words of wisdom prior to last month’s draft, from a very veteran source. The Baylor alum explained on new teammate Paul George‘s “Podcast P” show (YouTube video link) that Dallas sharpshooter Klay Thompson offered him some solid insights about the NBA. “Enjoy the journey,” Edgecome said Thompson told him (hat tip to Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal for the transcription). “He was like, ‘You’re gonna win championships and all that, but draft night? That’s the best time. You only do that once.’”
• The Knicks have enjoyed an eventful offseason so far, having brought in former two-time Coach of the Year Mike Brown to replace the recently exiled Tom Thibodeau, and added vets Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson to round out their bench depth. But there’s still business to attend to. Stefan Bondy of The New York Post notes that signing All-Defensive forward Mikal Bridges to a new contract extension headlines three key items that should be on the Knicks’ remaining offseason agenda. Since the end of the playoffs, the 6’6″ swingman has been eligible for a deal that could be worth, at most, $156MM over four seasons.