- Jamal Crawford has a unique opportunity to impress with the Nets during the NBA’s restart, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. Brooklyn signed Crawford to a substitute contract earlier this month, with the team missing the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Wilson Chandler, Taurean Prince and Nicolas Claxton in Orlando.
- Along with Crawford, forward Lance Thomas is also excited for his new chance with the Nets, Zach Braziller of The New York Post writes. Thomas, 32, signed his contract last week and practiced with the team on Saturday. “It was great to get out of quarantine,” Thomas said. “Sitting in the room for about six-to-seven days, I was itching to get back on the court. I reacclimated with the guys and I was excited for the opportunity.”
4:24pm: The signing is official, the team announced on Twitter.
3:42pm: Justin Anderson will sign with the Nets later today, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Rumors of the 27-year-old swingman joining the team began in late June and continued last week when he discussed the possibility on a radio show (YouTube link). However, Brooklyn opted for Lance Thomas instead, making the deal official earlier this week.
Another spot opened up when veteran forward Michael Beasley tested positive for COVID-19 when he arrived in Orlando and failed to clear quarantine. It’s possible the Nets already knew they’d be replacing Beasley when they signed Thomas instead of Anderson last week.
Anderson signed a 10-day contract with the Nets in January and averaged 1.0 PPG in three games before being released by the organization. He also spent part of the season with Brooklyn’s G League affiliate in Long Island. A first-round pick by the Mavericks in 2015, Anderson had brief stops with the Sixers and Hawks as well.
After Nets owner Joe Tsai was named as one of many high-profile sports figures attached to Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez’s bid to purchase the Mets, he denied being involved in the process on Saturday.
“Sorry Twitter, it is not true,” Tsai said in a tweet. “I grew up as a Mets fan and I have a lot of respect for Alex and Jennifer. But I’m not involved in bidding for the Mets. Gotta focus on basketball.”
Rodriguez and Lopez have put together a star-studded group as they attempt to acquire the MLB franchise, with multiple NBA names attached to the group. Wizards guard Bradley Beal and Nuggets big man Mason Plumlee — who originally named Tsai as part of the group— are among those involved. Additionally, Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and former Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray are part of the bid.
Whether or not Rodriguez and Lopez are successful in their Mets venture remains to be seen. However, it appears it will be without the help of Tsai, who assumed full ownership of the Nets and Barclays Center last August.
It took four years, but Tyler Johnson is finally a member of the Nets and he’s thrilled about the opportunity, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks presented Johnson with a four-year, $50MM offer sheet in 2016, hoping to snare the young guard as part of a rebuilding project.
Johnson’s stock has fallen considerably since Miami chose to match that offer. He has been out of the league since the Suns waived him in February after a disappointing season following knee surgery. The Nets signed him last month to fill one of their many roster openings.
“Maybe I wasn’t at 100 percent. I was working through it, trying to get right,” Johnson said, adding that his knee is now fully healed. “But I didn’t have that pop, that bounce I used to have where I’d try to go up over the top of people. Who knows if that played a role in anything. I don’t put any blame anywhere but myself. At the end of the day I can only control myself. … Unfortunately it didn’t work out. But fortunately, I’m here. I find myself in a position where I can have a little bit of redemption.”
There’s more on the New York teams:
- There may be hints that Kevin Durant is throwing his support behind Mark Jackson to be the Nets‘ next head coach, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on his latest podcast. Windhorst notes that Rich Kleiman, Durant’s friend and business partner, has started tweeting frequently about Jackson, the former Warriors coach and current ABC/ESPN broadcaster.
- Former player and current agent B.J. Armstrong believes Tom Thibodeau would be an excellent choice as the Knicks‘ head coach, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Armstrong represents Derrick Rose, who played for Thibodeau in Chicago in Minnesota and maintains a tight relationship with the coach. “I always admired how (Thibodeau) coached,’’ Armstrong said. “He brings the fire and the heat. And most importantly, he’s always prepared for the game. He loves the game. He had an excellent career in this league. He made a life commitment to the game. I’ll be really happy for him (if he gets the job).’’
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic looks at how the Knicks might be able to find a better role for Julius Randle if he remains with the team next season. New York is reportedly willing to trade Randle, but his salary may make that difficult in the current financial climate.
Nets forward Michael Beasley will become the summer’s first substitute player who requires a substitute player of his own, as Shams Charania reports (via Twitter) that Beasley won’t be joining the team after all.
Beasley signed with Brooklyn a week ago, but tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving to the Walt Disney World campus and didn’t clear quarantine. As a result, the Nets have decided to sign a substitute player to replace him. Although Charania doesn’t specify who that player will be, he notes that Justin Anderson “remains a signing candidate.”
Anderson reportedly reached a deal back in June to sign with the Nets and said during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) on Monday that he was quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel in preparation.
It’s a tough break for Beasley, who had been out of the NBA since February of 2019 and likely would have had a chance to earn some playing time this summer for the Nets, who are missing a total of seven players from their original squad.
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined with injuries, Wilson Chandler voluntarily opted out, and DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Taurean Prince have been ruled out following positive coronavirus tests. Beasley becomes the eighth Nets player who won’t participate in the restart.
Brooklyn has been able to sign substitute players to replace its non-injured players, bringing aboard Jamal Crawford, Lance Thomas, and Donta Hall along with Beasley. The former No. 2 overall pick will now be replaced by a fifth substitute player, presumably Anderson.
On Wednesday, recently-signed guards Jamal Crawford and Tyler Johnson practiced for the first time with the Nets down at Disney World, having cleared quarantine (Twitter link). Both veterans are candidates to play a significant amount of minutes for a Nets team that is missing Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, and Taurean Prince due to COVID-19. Brooklyn will play its first game in Orlando on July 31 against the Magic.
- The 40-year-old Crawford spoke with reporters on Wednesday night about getting another shot in the NBA with Brooklyn after not playing since the 2018/19 season. Crawford said he was surprised that they called because it looked like his career was over. “It didn’t feel real in some sense,” he said (via Nick Friedell of ESPN). “I was going to sleep that night, and I woke up like, ‘Did this really happen, or was I dreaming? Did the Nets really call and I really signed a contract with them or agreed to a contract?’ And it was real.”
- Rookie Nets point guard Jeremiah Martin, who went undrafted out of Memphis in 2019, has been proving himself a valuable asset to the team, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “I’d say Jeremiah Martin has been a surprise for us, his ability to compete,” interim head coach Jacque Vaughn. “That’s all we ask at this beginning stage, is to compete. Whether that’s knowing the plays, knowing different implementation, or having yourself ready every day.”
New Nets forward Michael Beasley has tested positive for the coronavirus and returned home, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Malika Andrews and Tim Bontemps of ESPN first reported that Beasley had left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus.
Beasley, who signed with the Nets last Thursday, arrived at Disney shortly after the rest of the team got there last week. As Andrews and Bontemps note, GM Sean Marks told reporters that Beasley would require negative coronavirus tests for six days before he’d receive the go-ahead to join Brooklyn for practices. Presumably, the veteran forward didn’t clear quarantine before testing positive. Now his roster status is up in the air, per Charania.
No NBA team has a more decimated roster right now than the Nets, who are missing a total of seven players from their original squad. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined with injuries, Wilson Chandler voluntarily opted out, and DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Taurean Prince have been ruled out following positive coronavirus tests.
Brooklyn has been able to sign substitute players to replace those four non-injured players, bringing aboard Jamal Crawford, Lance Thomas, Donta Hall, and Beasley. Now, however, the Nets may be the first club whose substitute player requires a substitute of his own.
Players who contract COVID-19 don’t have to be replaced, but Beasley had already been out of the NBA for over a year and now won’t be able to participate in the season’s ramp-up period before seeding games begin.
As such, it would make sense for Brooklyn to replace him, and Justin Anderson looks like the logical candidate to do so — he reportedly reached a deal with the Nets back in June and said during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) on Monday that he’s quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel as he prepares to officially sign his contract.
3:03pm: The Nets have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Thomas as a substitute player.
There’s no word yet on how the deal will affect Anderson.
2:56pm: The Nets have finalized an agreement with free agent forward Lance Thomas, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Begley first reported over the weekend that Thomas was nearing a deal with Brooklyn.
Thomas hasn’t appeared in an NBA game in 2019/20, having been waived by the Nets before the regular season began last fall. The 32-year-old previously appeared in 392 regular season contests over eight seasons with New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and New York, averaging 5.2 PPG and 2.6 RPG. He last suited up for the Knicks in ’18/19, recording 4.5 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 46 games (17.0 MPG).
Word of Thomas’ agreement with the Nets comes on the heels of Justin Anderson saying during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) that he’s quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel as he prepares to officially sign his contract with Brooklyn, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays.
The Nets are allowed to sign substitute players to replace their four players who have either opted out of the restart (Wilson Chandler) or been ruled out due to COVID-19 (Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, and Taurean Prince). So far, the team has officially signed three substitutes — Jamal Crawford, Michael Beasley, and Donta Hall.
While it’s possible that Brooklyn could sign both Thomas and Anderson, that would presumably mean a fifth player on the roster is being replaced. There has been no word yet that another Net has opted out or contracted the coronavirus, and the club has yet to formally announce the signing of either Thomas or Anderson, so we’ll await further updates.
The Nets are close to signing free agent forward Lance Thomas, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. After this week’s additions of Jamal Crawford, Michael Beasley and Donta Hall, Brooklyn still has just 13 players available for Orlando.
Thomas, 32, was with the Nets in training camp on a non-guaranteed contract. He was waived just before the start of the season.
Thomas hasn’t played in the NBA this season, but he has eight years of experience with the Hornets/Pelicans, Thunder and Knicks. He has career averages of 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 392 games.
The Nets will be without at least seven players for the NBA’s restart. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined due to injuries, while Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, and Wilson Chandler contracted COVID-19 and/or voluntarily opted out.
Brooklyn is permitted to sign substitute players to replace the four non-injured players. So far, the team has signed three substitutes (Crawford, Beasley, and Hall), and the belief was that Justin Anderson would be the fourth. It’s not yet clear if Thomas will be signed in place of Anderson or if another Net will be unavailable.