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Nets No Longer Signing Ricky Council IV

September 21st, 2025 at 8:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

After previous reporting had indicated that Ricky Council IV was signing with the Nets on a partially-guaranteed deal, Nets Daily now hears from a source that Council will not, in fact, be joining Brooklyn (Twitter link).

Council was reportedly poised to join the Nets after being waived by the Sixers following two seasons in Philadelphia. As a 76er, he averaged 6.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game.

Council has struggled to find consistency from three-point range throughout his time in college and the NBA, but he emerged as an athletic transition weapon during his rookie season with the Sixers. As of now, it’s unclear where he’s set to land instead.

Nets Daily also notes that Chinese forward Fanbo Zeng will be heading to Brooklyn on an Exhibit 10 deal, rather than the two-way spot some outlets had suggested he might sign.

Zeng is a skilled 6’11” forward who averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 40.5% from three last season for the Beijing Ducks in the Chinese Basketball Association. His agreement with the Nets was reported in August.

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Nets Waive Yuri Collins

September 21st, 2025 at 12:49pm CST by Rory Maher

The Nets have opened up a spot on their standard roster ahead of training camp by waiving Yuri Collins, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

Collins was signed on Friday to a one-year deal with a partial guarantee of $85,300, just like the recent agreements with David Muoka and D’Andre Davis, who were also released shortly after their contracts were finalized.

Collins’ contract essentially served the same purpose as an Exhibit 10 deal, as he’ll likely be joining the Nets’ G League affiliate in Long Island to open 2025/26. The only real difference is the Nets will carry that $85,300 on their cap sheet as they look to get above the minimum salary floor by opening night.

A 6’0″ point guard, Collins has spent the past two seasons in the NBAGL with the Santa Cruz Warriors after going undrafted out of Saint Louis in 2023. In 49 games (32.3 minutes per contest) with Santa Cruz in 2024/25, Collins averaged 13.7 points, 10.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals, with a shooting line of .412/.264/.780.

Collins also had a brief stint with Golden State last season, making his NBA debut in February after signing a 10-day contract with the Warriors. In 16 minutes of playing time across two games, he recorded two points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

The Nets now have 20 players under contract, one shy of the offseason limit.

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Nets Could Have Youngest Roster In NBA History

September 21st, 2025 at 10:29am CST by Arthur Hill

After making history by becoming the first team ever to select five players in the first round of a draft, the Nets will begin the challenge of integrating all those new faces into the program when training camp opens this week, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required). Egor Demin, Nolan Traoré, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf provide a young infusion of talent that offers hope to a rebuilding franchise.

“This is great. It was a unique opportunity for us, to be quite frank,” general Sean Marks said this summer. “We’ve never had five picks in one draft. To be able to draft all of them in a draft class we just saw, that was unique. That was something we want to take advantage of, especially in our build, where we see these young men fitting into our group and into our roster. So, it was about us capitalizing on the hand we were dealt.” 

The top prospect in that group is Demin, a 6’9″ guard out of BYU who was chosen with the No. 8 pick. The 19-year-old Russian native provided a pleasant surprise with his shooting during Summer League, but his play-making was limited because he wasn’t featured exclusively in an on-ball role due to the number of lead guards on Brooklyn’s team in Las Vegas.

Traoré, Powell, Saraf and Wolf may see limited minutes as rookies, and it’s possible that all of them could spend time with the team’s G League affiliate in Long Island.

“The preseason with the team, getting to know everyone and making sure to know (everyone) basketball-wise (is huge),” Traoré said. “As a point guard, I’d say that it’s important to know these guys and know what they like and just start to build the team right way.” 

Depending on how the final roster shakes out, Lewis notes that the Nets have a chance to eclipse the 2022/23 Rockets as the youngest team in NBA history. In addition to the five first-rounders, Brooklyn recently traded for 2023 first-round pick Kobe Bufkin, who turns 22 today. Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney are both 21, while Fanbo Zeng, who is expected to sign soon, is 22.

It presents another challenge for second-year head coach Jordi Fernandez, who had the third-youngest team in the league last season.

“That’s definitely on me. Player development is going to be important. We’ve been very diligent,” Fernandez said. “The coaching staff has done a great job making our guys work, and those guys have improved. And we believe (the rookies) will do the same thing.” 

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Nets Sign Yuri Collins To Partially Guaranteed Deal

September 19th, 2025 at 11:20am CST by Rory Maher

The Nets have officially signed free agent guard Yuri Collins, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) that Collins received a one-year standard contract with a $85,300 partial guarantee, just like Brooklyn’s recent contract agreements with David Muoka and D’Andre Davis, and is expected to be released soon. Davis was waived in order to make room on the 21-man roster for Collins.

A 6’0″ point guard, Collins went undrafted out of St. Louis in 2023 and has spent the past two seasons in the NBAGL with the Santa Cruz Warriors. After a fairly modest role in 2023/24, the 24-year-old’s usage rate nearly doubled in ’24/25, averaging 13.7 points, 10.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 49 combined games (32.2 minutes per contest). He posted a shooting line of .412/.264/.780.

Collins, who led the G League in assists per game (10.8) last regular season, signed a 10-day deal with Golden State in February and made his NBA debut that month, appearing in two games.

For G League purposes, the deals for Collins, Davis and Muoka will essentially function like Exhibit 10 contracts would have, and it’s safe to assume all three players will end up joining the Long Island Nets. The only real difference is that the $85,300 each player is receiving as a partial guarantee will count against the Nets’ cap.

Clubs generally favor Exhibit 10 deals because they don’t want those cap hits on their books, but those small partial guarantees may help ensure that the Nets’ team salary is above the minimum salary floor by opening night. Brooklyn is the only NBA team still operating below the cap.

According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link), Long Island acquired Collins’ returning player rights this offseason, yet another indication that he’ll be headed to the NBAGL in 2025/26.

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And-Ones: G League Trade, Offseason Moves, Spending, Draft Capital

September 18th, 2025 at 7:26pm CST by Earnest Marshall

The Heat‘s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, acquired the returning player rights to Alex Fudge from the South Bay Lakers, Los Angeles’s developmental team, the Skyforce announced in a release. The move was a three-team deal, with the Skyforce obtaining a 2026 first-round pick from the College Park Skyhawks (the Hawks‘ affiliate) while sending them Malik Williams. South Bay also obtained Caleb Daniels from Sioux Falls and Michael Devoe from College Park.

Fudge went undrafted in 2023 out of Florida but signed with the Lakers on a two-way contract that summer. He was later waived and then signed a two-way deal with Dallas before being cut last offseason. He spent all of last season with South Bay, averaging 5.5 points in 15 regular season games. The 22-year-old has appeared in six NBA games.

The other player in the deal with NBA experience is Williams, who suited up in seven games (two starts) with Toronto on a 10-day contract in 2023/24. He averaged 14.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game in the G League last year with Sioux Falls.

Daniels previously signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Miami before averaging 10.8 PPG with the Skyforce last season. Devoe signed Exhibit 10 deals with the Clippers in 2022 and Jazz in 2023. He last played in the G League in 2023/24.

G League trades can often indicate a team is gearing up to sign one or more of the players involved to an Exhibit 10 contract. When teams sign players to Exhibit 10 deals, those players are eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if they spend at least 60 days with that organization’s G League affiliate.

Devoe played last year in Germany, so this trade doesn’t necessarily mean he will for sure suit up in the G League. But if he does, the South Bay Lakers currently controls his returning rights.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • The Spurs signing Luke Kornet is one of the NBA’s most underrated moves of the offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. San Antonio got a big that pairs nicely with Victor Wembanyama or can play when he’s off the floor without breaking the bank. In an article evaluating some of the most overlooked moves of the summer, Hollinger credits the Bulls for re-signing Josh Giddey at a decent price point and the Heat for trading for Norman Powell, while applauding various other moves.
  • On the other hand, several teams made deals Hollinger was not a fan of. The Heat salary-dumping Haywood Highsmith is one such move, while the Pelicans acquiring Jordan Poole is another.
  • With free agency largely over, pending the conclusion of restricted free agency for Quentin Grimes and Jonathan Kuminga, Keith Smith of Spotrac took a look at how teams spent their money this offseason. Small-market teams mostly led the way in total spending, signing players to big extensions. The Thunder, for example, led the league in new extension money at $776.3MM spread out between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams.
  • The Thunder laid the blueprint for teams building through draft capital, winning a title with drafted players Holmgren and Williams leading the charge alongside Gilgeous-Alexander, who was himself acquired alongside draft assets. Bobby Marks and Jeremy Woo of ESPN rank the top teams in the league by their draft capital, with the Thunder still leading the way with 13 incoming future first-round picks. Two rebuilding teams, the Nets and the Jazz, round out the top three.
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2025/26 NBA Over/Unders: Atlantic Division

September 18th, 2025 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

With the 2025/26 NBA regular season set to tip off next month, we’re getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and continuing an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.

With the help of the lines from a series of sports betting sites – including BetMGM and BetOnline – we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

In 2024/25, our voters went 13-17 on their over/under picks. Can we top that in ’25/26?

We’ll begin our series today with the Atlantic Division…

New York Knicks

Boston Celtics

Philadelphia 76ers

Toronto Raptors

Brooklyn Nets

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Nets Sign D’Andre Davis To Partially Guaranteed Deal

September 17th, 2025 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have signed undrafted rookie free agent D’Andre Davis, according to the team (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).

Also known as Dre Davis, the 6’6″ guard/forward spent two years at Louisville and two more at Seton Hall before wrapping up his college career with Ole Miss in 2024/25. As a super-senior, he averaged 10.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 26.0 minutes per game while shooting 45.5% from the floor and 32.5% on three-pointers.

Davis suited up in July for Brooklyn’s Summer League team in Las Vegas, appearing in four games and averaging 4.8 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 13.3 MPG.

Rather than signing Davis to an Exhibit 10 contract, the Nets gave him a standard contract with a partial guarantee of $85,300, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. According to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link), that’s the same deal the team gave David Muoka, who was signed and waived earlier this week.

For G League purposes, those deals for Davis and Muoka will essentially function like Exhibit 10 contracts would have, and it’s safe to assume both players will end up joining the Long Island Nets. The only real difference is that the $85,300 each player is receiving as a partial guarantee will count against the Nets’ cap.

Clubs generally favor Exhibit 10 deals because they don’t want those cap hits on their books, but those small partial guarantees may help ensure that the Nets’ team salary is above the minimum salary floor by opening night. Brooklyn is the only NBA team still operating below the cap.

Davis was signed as the Nets’ 21st man, taking the roster spot previously held by Keon Johnson until he was waived earlier today. According to Lewis (Twitter link), Johnson is dealing with an injury, which is one reason Brooklyn opted to cut him.

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Nets Waive Keon Johnson

September 17th, 2025 at 9:35am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have waived Keon Johnson, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets.

Johnson appeared in 79 games with Brooklyn last season, including 56 starts. He averaged a career-best 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 24.4 minutes per contest.

However, Johnson’s playing time was expected to be reduced dramatically with restricted free agent Cam Thomas signing his qualifying offer and an influx of first-round rookies on the roster. Brooklyn also acquired another shooting guard, Kobe Bufkin, from Atlanta this week.

Johnson’s $2,349,578 was only guaranteed for $271,614. That partial guarantee would have increased to $760,520 if he had been on the team’s opening night roster.

As a result of waiving Johnson, the Nets now have 20 players on their camp roster. Ricky Council IV is still expected to sign with the team, having agreed to a deal at the start of August.

Johnson, who began his career with the Clippers and also had a stint with the Trail Blazers, will now become a free agent on Friday unless he’s claimed on waivers. The 6’5” wing was a first-round pick in 2021 out of Tennessee, but has struggled with his shooting during his young career, averaging 37.9% overall and 32.4% on three-point tries in 161 career games.

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Eastern Notes: Bufkin, NAW, Tanenbaum, Nets, Wiggins

September 16th, 2025 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

After rebuffing trade interest in former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin earlier in the offseason, the Hawks became more open to the idea of moving him after the Las Vegas Summer League concluded, according to Grant Afseth of RG.org.

While Bufkin posted strong averages of 19.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game in four Vegas outings, he struggled to score efficiently, making just 35.5% of his shots from the floor, including 25.9% of his three-point attempts. The Hawks, who are hoping to contend in what looks like a wide-open Eastern Conference, are focused on players who can help them win right now and weren’t sure Bufkin fit that bill, as Afseth explains.

Bufkin was ultimately sent to Brooklyn, though the Pacers also registered some interest, sources tell RG.org.

As for the Hawks, they intend to lean on Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard for ball-handling duties behind star point guard Trae Young, according to Afseth, who says the team envisions Alexander-Walker taking on a more significant offensive role than he had in Minnesota — he has been working closely with Atlanta’s coaching staff to prepare for those increased responsibilities, Afseth adds.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Raptors governor and NBA Board of Governors chairman Larry Tanenbaum is obligated to begin the process of selling his 20% stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (the Raptors’ parent company) to Rogers Communications by July 7, 2026, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. There are “rumblings” that process could begin sooner, Grange says, but either way, it sounds like it’s just a matter of time until Rogers – which already controls 75% of MLSE – owns nearly the entire company. Rogers increased its stake in MLSE from 37.5% to 75% a year ago.
  • Which Nets players are the most and least likely to be part of the team’s long-term plans? Brian Lewis of The New York Post explores that question in a subscriber-only article, suggesting that Cam Thomas seems unlikely to remain in Brooklyn beyond 2025/26, whereas Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, and whoever the Nets draft with their 2026 lottery pick seem destined to be cornerstones going forward.
  • Addressing the recent trade rumors linking Heat forward Andrew Wiggins to the Lakers, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explains why he thinks Miami would be better off keeping Wiggins than trading him for a return of Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht.
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Hawks Trade Kobe Bufkin To Nets

September 16th, 2025 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

September 16: The trade is official, according to announcements from both teams. The Nets waived big man David Muoka in order to open up a spot on the 21-man roster for Bufkin.

September 15: The Hawks and Nets have agreed to a trade that will send former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin from Atlanta to Brooklyn in exchange for cash considerations, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The Hawks will acquire $110K in cash, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin has battled injuries since entering the NBA. He missed a significant chunk of his rookie year due to a fractured left thumb and a sprained toe, then underwent season-ending shoulder surgery into December 2024, less than two months into his second season.

In total, the 6’4″ guard made just 27 appearances for the Hawks, averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 11.9 minutes per night, with a .374/.220/.654 shooting line. Bufkin – who will turn 22 on Sunday – has more upside than he’s been able to show so far, so the Nets will take a chance on him in the hopes that he’ll have better health luck going forward.

Brooklyn has more than enough cap room to take on Bufkin’s $4.5MM salary for this season, which will push the team over the minimum salary floor, at least for now. His rookie scale contract also includes a $6.9MM team option for 2026/27 — the Nets will have to make a decision on that option by October 31.

While the Nets are in a good position to roll the dice on Bufkin from a salary cap perspective, adding him to the mix will exacerbate a looming roster crunch. Once the deal is official, Brooklyn will be carrying 15 players on guaranteed salaries and four on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed salaries. The team also intends to add Ricky Council IV to the latter group. A number of those players will have to be waived or traded in order for the Nets to set their 15-man regular season roster next month.

Brooklyn still has roughly $11.6MM in cap room for now, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, though the club could increase that figure by waiving some of those players with non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts. The Nets would be in danger of falling back below the minimum salary floor in that scenario and will want to make sure they’re above that threshold by opening night.

The Hawks, meanwhile, will generate a $4.5MM trade exception as a result of the deal, generating a little extra financial flexibility below the luxury tax line and opening up another roster spot for one of their camp invitees to compete for.

With Bufkin no longer in the mix, Atlanta will have just 10 players on fully guaranteed salaries, plus Vit Krejci and N’Faly Dante on partial guarantees, Mouhamed Gueye on a non-guaranteed contract, and Caleb Houstan, Charles Bassey, and Kobe Johnson on Exhibit 10 deals.

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