Nets, Ricky Council Agree To One-Year Deal
After being waived last week by the Sixers, Ricky Council IV is heading to another Atlantic team, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from agent Adie von Gontard that the free agent swingman has a one-year agreement in place with the Nets.
An undrafted free agent out of Arkansas in 2023, Council spent his first two professional seasons with the Sixers, appearing in 105 games during that time, including a team-high 73 in 2024/25.
While the 6’6″ wing showed promise as a rookie, his production dropped off as he took an increased role in his second year. Council averaged 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 17.1 minutes per game last season, with an underwhelming shooting line of just .382/.258/.804.
The rebuilding Nets are in a better position to take a shot on Council, who will turn 24 on Sunday, than the win-now Sixers, who leaned on him so heavily last season due in large part to a series of injuries affecting starters and rotation players.
While the details of Council’s contract agreement aren’t yet known, it figures to be a minimum-salary deal, so it could be completed later in the offseason without cutting into Brooklyn’s cap room. I also wouldn’t expect it to be guaranteed, though that hasn’t been confirmed.
Atlantic Notes: Davison, Simmons, Shamet, Nets
The financial implications of waiving guard JD Davison are why the Celtics ultimately made the move, Brian Robb of MassLive writes. By letting go of Davison, the Celtics slid under the second apron by approximately $1.9MM with 14 players on the roster.
By moving under the apron, the Celtics can send out cash in a trade, can aggregate salaries and are beginning the path to opening their 2032 pick up for trade. As Robb explains, once Boston stays under the second apron for three straight seasons, they’ll unfreeze that pick.
Cutting Davison now as opposed to later allowed him to reach a two-way deal in Houston, where he’ll reunite with former Boston head coach Ime Udoka.
We have more notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Ben Simmons and Landry Shamet continue to be candidates for a spot on the Knicks‘ 15-man roster, Ian Begley of SNY writes in a mailbag. As has been previously reported, the Knicks are among the teams awaiting Simmons’ decision, and Begley suggests that several staffers have interest in bringing back Shamet for a second season as well. As Begley writes, the Knicks have enough room under the second apron to bring in one veteran and one draft-rights player on a rookie deal. 2025 second-round Mohamed Diawara looks like a top candidate for that latter role, though that’s speculation.
- In a subscriber-only story, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes that by taking a discount on his extension, Mikal Bridges put himself in rare air and established himself as a core Knick for years to come.
- The Nets announced their preseason schedule for the upcoming season, NetsDaily relayed. The only home game on the four-game schedule is a tilt against Hapoel Jerusalem.
Signed Second-Round Picks Now Count Against Cap
Between July 1 and July 30 of each NBA league year, a player signed using the second-round pick exception doesn’t count toward his team’s cap, but that changes as of July 31. Beginning on Thursday, each of the second-rounders signed using that exception will begin carrying 2025/26 cap hits.
[RELATED: 2025 NBA Draft Pick Signings]
The effect this will have on teams around the league is negligible. The only club still operating below the cap is Brooklyn, but the Nets didn’t make any second-round picks in this year’s draft and haven’t signed any second-rounders that were stashed from previous drafts, so this change won’t reduce their cap room at all.
The Nets are far from the only NBA team that hasn’t signed a second-round pick to a standard contract this offseason. In fact, only 11 of the league’s 30 clubs have done so.
The Suns, Magic, Hornets (two picks), Sixers, Lakers, Pistons, and Pacers made the top eight selections of the 2025 second round and have signed those players to standard deals, while the Pelicans (No. 40 pick Micah Peavy), Kings (No. 42 pick Maxime Raynaud), Cavaliers (No. 49 pick Tyrese Proctor), and Hawks (2024’s No. 43 pick Nikola Djurisic) have joined them. The rest of this year’s second-rounders are either still unsigned, will play overseas, or agreed to two-way contracts.
None of those 11 teams surpassed an apron threshold as a result of their second-rounders’ new cap hits. For example, the Cavs would be well over the second apron with or without Proctor on their books.
Since none of those teams will see their ability to make other roster moves affected by the new cap charges, this is really more of a housekeeping note than anything.
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.
Execs Weigh In On Cam Thomas’ Value
Fred Katz of The Athletic recently polled 16 rival NBA executives about what “fair” contracts would look like for the four primary restricted free agents who remain unsigned.
We have already relayed stories regarding Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey and Quentin Grimes, with the key caveat that teams are much more likely to be conservative in their valuations than agents because they don’t want their own players to become too expensive in the future.
In today’s story, the executives weighed in on Nets guard Cam Thomas, who led Brooklyn in scoring with a career-high 24.0 points per game in 2024/25 but was limited to just 25 appearances due to hamstring issues. As Katz writes, Thomas was easily the most polarizing name of the group, and executives were uncertain about whether their views were consensus or otherwise.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if this was way lower or higher,” said one executive who proposed a two-year, $32MM deal. “His scoring is very much ‘eye of the beholder.’”
Whereas 15 of the 16 respondents proposed contracts of at least three years for each of Kuminga, Giddey and Grimes, only eight did the same for Thomas. And while most executives viewed Kuminga ($17-25MM annually), Giddey ($20-25MM) and Grimes ($12-17MM) as having relatively stable market values, the same was not true for Thomas.
In addition to various contract structures – including a one-plus-one (two years, $40MM with a team option, so only $20MM guaranteed), seven two-year deals, five three-year contracts, and three four-year proposals (no one proposed a five-year deal) – the hypothetical offers also ranged anywhere from $10MM to $30MM per year, with the average being $16.7MM annually but only $42.7MM in total guaranteed money.
According to Katz, only two executives valued Thomas in the exact same way. They were also the most bearish on him as a player, offering $20MM total over two years. And the executive who was seemingly the most bullish on the 23-year-old — deeming a three-year, $90MM deal as being “fair” — was quick to add a caveat.
“I wouldn’t personally give (it to) him … But I justified it as ‘fair’ because if I’m him, I’m saying I’m better than Jalen Green and that’s way less than he got,” said the staffer who suggested the $90MM contract, the most lucrative deal in terms of both total money and annual average value.
As Katz points out, Green received a three-year, $105MM rookie scale extension last October. But other score-first guards, like Collin Sexton and Norman Powell, have been traded for relatively modest returns, and the Jazz couldn’t find a taker for Jordan Clarkson, who reached a buyout and signed a minimum-salary deal with the Knicks.
The Nets need someone to score points next season, even if they’re clearly more focused on the 2026 draft than their results in the standings, and Thomas is the player best equipped to do that, Katz writes. But Brooklyn also has a lot of leverage as the only team which can currently make Thomas a strong offer, something it reportedly has shown little interest in doing to this point.
Latest From Stein, Fischer: Paul, Smart, Thomas, Kuminga
Chris Paul returned to Los Angeles and signed with the Clippers on a one-year deal last week. Paul showed strong interest in playing for one of his other former teams before making his decision, according to the latest Substack article from Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.
The other team that Paul considered rejoining was the Suns. The team’s star, Devin Booker, was intrigued by the potential reunion, given how they meshed during Phoenix’s run to the 2021 NBA Finals. There was also seemingly a spot for Paul at the point, since Tyus Jones chose to sign with Orlando.
The Suns’ front office decided to go in another direction. Phoenix was much more interested in defensive stalwart Marcus Smart, who chose to sign with the Lakers after reaching a buyout with Washington. Phoenix’s brass also had some concerns how the future Hall of Famer’s presence might create some awkward situations for first-year head coach Jordan Ott.
The Suns wound up claiming Jordan Goodwin off waivers and signing Jared Butler to a non-guaranteed contract. Paul also drew interest from the Hornets, Mavericks and Bucks, as previously reported.
Citing a source, Stein said Dallas had D’Angelo Russell higher on its wish list than Paul. The Mavs’ brass believed Russell would be more comfortable in a complementary role once Kyrie Irving returns from his knee ailment. They also felt Russell was a better fit with Anthony Davis, considering they had played together with the Lakers. Russell signed a two-year deal with the Mavs.
Here’s more nuggets from The Stein Line:
- The Hawks considered absorbing Smart’s contract into its $25MM traded player exception prior to his buyout. Atlanta opted instead to acquire Kristaps Porziņgis and make a sign-and-trade transaction for Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The Bucks explored potential trades for Smart and the Heat‘s Andrew Wiggins with the aid of Pat Connaughton‘s expiring $9.4MM contract. They instead dealt him to Charlotte for two future second-round picks.
- Fischer reiterates that the Nets’ offers to restricted free agent Cam Thomas have yet to exceed two-year proposals featuring an annual average value in the range of the league’s $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Those offers also include a team option for the second year. Brooklyn appears to be in no rush to ramp up negotiations with Thomas’ representation, given Thomas’ lack of leverage.
- Regarding another prominent restricted free agent, Jonathan Kuminga has not gotten an offer from the Warriors close to his reported $30MM annual asking price. The Warriors’ best offers to Kuminga have topped out in the two-year, $40MM range, per Stein. As previously reported, the Kings and Suns are regarded as the top suitors but Golden State wants a first-round pick in any sign-and-trade deal. Phoenix is unable to offer a first-rounder.
Free Agent Notes: Thomas, Jazz, Kings, Westbrook, Boston
Reports have indicated there’s a significant gap in contract negotiations between restricted free agent guard Cam Thomas and the Nets, his incumbent team. As Grant Afseth of FastbreakJournal.com writes, Thomas doesn’t appear to have much leverage, with so few teams having the ability to sign him to an offer sheet that might give Brooklyn pause.
“He’s a talented scorer, but he’s kind of stuck in the middle right now. He wants star money, but a lot of teams see him more like a microwave scorer off the bench,” a veteran scout for a team who made last year’s playoffs told FastbreakJournal.com. “That disparity is what’s keeping him on the market.”
Echoing reporting from Jake Fischer, Afseth also states that Thomas seems “increasingly likely” to sign his $6MM qualifying offer, which would give him an implied no-trade clause and a chance to hit unrestricted free agency in 2026.
Here are a few more free agent items of interest:
- League sources tell Afseth that the Jazz, who could theoretically make a run at a top restricted free agent using their $26.6MM trade exception, don’t appear to be interested in Thomas. However, rival teams believe Utah might be intrigued by another RFA who offers more versatility and defense. “If Utah uses that cap space, it’ll be for someone like Quentin Grimes, someone who can knock down threes and guard multiple positions, but still can create off the dribble,” an Eastern Conference executive told FastbreakJournal.com. “He’s also shown flashes as a scorer and play-maker in Philly. He’s shown he can grow into a more complete player in the right system. That’s a different type of bet than what you’re making on Thomas.” The Jazz wouldn’t be able to complete an offer sheet using a trade exception, but could make a sign-and-trade deal.
- According to Matt George of ABC 10 Sacramento (Twitter link), the Kings and veteran guard Russell Westbrook continue to have mutual interest. However, George has heard that Sacramento would probably need to trade either Devin Carter or Malik Monk to make room in the backcourt for Westbrook, who remains an unrestricted free agent after declining his 2025/26 player option in June. The nine-time All-Star suited up for Denver last season.
- Free agent wing Brandon Boston Jr. is in “advanced talks” with Greek EuroLeague club Panathinaikos, per Spurs reporter Dusty Garza (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando). The 23-year-old guard/forward is coming off a solid season with New Orleans in which he averaged 10.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest, with all of those figures representing career highs. However, Boston was limited to just 42 games due to an ankle injury, which required surgery in April, and the Pelicans declined their team option on his contract for ’25/26, making him unrestricted.
Summer League Notes: Rookie Standouts, Maluach, Fears
The 2025 Summer League gave fans and teams first impressions of most of this year’s incoming rookies, as well as serving as a showcase for several sophomores and younger veterans. In the wake of the event, Law Murray of the Athletic breaks down each rookie’s performance with an eye for what it could mean for the coming season.
Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Dylan Harper (Spurs), and VJ Edgecombe (Sixers) were arguably the biggest names who participated in the Summer Leagues – headlined by the Las Vegas event – and despite some shooting efficiency concerns, all three gave their fans plenty of reason for excitement.
Flagg displayed a well-rounded on-ball skill set, Harper came up clutch in his last game to force overtime, and Edgecombe lived at the free throw line while displaying some advanced ball-screen offensive game, Murray observes.
The next three picks in the draft, Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Ace Bailey (Jazz), and Tre Johnson (Wizards), all showed off their shot-making capabilities, which will likely be what earns them regular playing time as rookies. Knueppel was rewarded for his play with the only All-Summer League Second Team selection among rookies, while Nique Clifford (Kings) was the lone rookie to make the First Team, thanks to his stellar all-around play.
Other rookies, such as Collin Murray-Boyles (Raptors), Carter Bryant (Spurs), Joan Beringer (Timberwolves), and Brooks Barnhizer (Thunder) flashed tantalizing defensive capabilities, though Murray-Boyles and Bryant were inconsistent offensively, Murray notes.
Here are a few more leftover Summer League notes:
- John Hollinger of the Athletic takes a look at some of the low points of Summer League, including the worst ejection of the tournament, awarded to the Celtics‘ Jordan Walsh for not only having an excessive foul on the Heat’s Pelle Larsson, but for accidentally throwing him into Walsh’s own front office executives courtside.
- In terms of players who struggled, Hollinger mentions Khaman Maluach (Suns), who had difficulty catching lobs and other passes, Jeremiah Fears (Pelicans), who was unable to spearhead an offense and create for others, and the limitations of the four Nets rookies who suited up, among others.
- On the non-player side, Hollinger points to an abundance of turnovers caused by stepping out of bounds, as well as the prevalence of split-screen interviews that made following the games an exercise in patience and eagle-eyed vision.
Atlantic Notes: Casey, Raptors, Council, Thomas
Former Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, now working in a front office role with Detroit, has been through several rounds of interviews about potentially filling Toronto’s vacant team president role and will meet with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for a final round of meetings this week, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscriber link).
In his seven seasons as a coach with the Raptors, Casey led Toronto to a 320-238 regular season tally and a 21-30 playoff record, which included an Eastern Conference Finals run in 2016.
There’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic takes stock of how much the Raptors can preserve the culture the organization built under Masai Ujiri after firing the longtime team president last month. Several trusted former Ujiri associates continue to occupy major front office roles with the club, with general manager Bobby Webster in the running for Ujiri’s former position. Developing international veterans, staying patient with coaches and core players, and preaching self-confidence to Toronto fans are all key Ujiri-era attributes Koreen hopes stick around.
- With limited spots left on their 15-man roster, the Sixers cut wing Ricky Council IV and his non-guaranteed deal on Friday. Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link) breaks down the team’s decision to move on from the young guard/forward after just two seasons. After beginning his career on a two-way contract, Council saw that deal converted to a standard agreement in April 2024. With All-Stars Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid all missing most of the subsequent 2024/25 season, the Sixers were hoping to see Council grow as an athletic ball-handler and play-maker while developing his long-range game, Pompey writes. Instead, he struggled to score efficiently or control the rock. In 73 healthy games for Philadelphia last year, the 6’6″ pro averaged 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per contest, with a shooting line of .382/.258/.804. The Sixers now have two open roster spots, with restricted free agent Quentin Grimes likely to fill one of them.
- Restricted free agent Nets shooting guard Cam Thomas remains unsigned nearly four weeks into the 2025/26 league year. Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily analyzes the standoff, and makes the case for retaining one of the team’s most exciting and prolific young scorers.
Nets Notes: Demin, Summer League, Irving, Porter
There are mixed reviews about Nets lottery pick Egor Demin after he shot the ball better than expected during Summer League, but didn’t get to show off his play-making skills in a mostly off-the-ball role, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Following his first taste of competition against NBA-level players, the 19-year-old rookie’s takeaway is that he needs to get stronger.
“For me there was a lot of physicality these past couple of weeks, probably even more in the practices with my own teammates where the level of competitiveness is super high — probably even higher than in the games, because everybody wants to make each other better on the practices,” Demin said.
There were questions about Demin’s outside shot following his lone season at BYU, but he connected at 43.5% in Las Vegas on 7.7 attempts per game. However, he was barely used in the pick-and-roll and collected just four assists in Summer League along with nine turnovers. Lewis cites concerns about his lack of athleticism to separate from defenders and weaknesses with his dribble that allow smaller opponents to bother him.
Summer League coach Steve Hetzel also mentioned Demin’s issues with “physicality,” but expressed confidence that he’ll eventually overcome them.
“As a 19-year-old, there’s still a lot of room for his body to just fill out and grow,” Hetzel said. “And you’re going to see a massive change from Year 1 to Year 2 in his strength and how he plays. He has such a good frame, he’s 6-foot-9. So there’s no worry. It’s just everybody has a level of patience for allowing him to grow.”
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- The Nets’ other first-round picks had flashes of success in Las Vegas, Lewis adds in a separate story. Nolan Traore displayed a strong first step and an ability to get by defenders, but he didn’t finish well at the rim. Ben Saraf showed a good understanding of the game and has the size to fit in at the wing, but he didn’t ease any of the concerns about his jumper. Danny Wolf got off to a rough start, but eventually showed off his passing skills and his ability to stretch defenses. Drake Powell, the team’s other first-round pick, didn’t participate in Summer League due to a knee injury.
- Kyrie Irving shared his thoughts on the failed experiment in Brooklyn during a recent appearance on the Mind the Game podcast (Twitter link), Lewis relays in another piece. Irving said he regrets not doing more research on the Nets before signing with them in 2019. “I wish I would’ve handled the business better and got a chance to know them first, ask them questions, ‘Hey, what’s the future like?’ Instead of just committing blindly,” he said. “I didn’t have much power going in there. I couldn’t say who we could get and who we could not get. I couldn’t hire the coach. You guys knew my opinion on the head coach at the time.”
- After being acquired in a trade with Denver, Michael Porter Jr. compiled a video blog of his first experiences with the Nets. It includes his impressions of the practice facility and a workout with team trainers.