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Nets To Decline 2016/17 Option On Sergey Karasev

November 1st, 2015 at 8:02pm CST by Will Joseph

The Nets will not pick up Sergey Karasev‘s $2.5MM team option for the 2016/17 season, Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reports (Twitter link).

Karasev underwent season-ending surgery on his right knee in March, but he entered the regular season at full health. Karasev, 22, is not an integral part of the Nets’ rotation. He played only two minutes in Friday’s game and did not play in Brooklyn’s other two contests. We noted that it was generally likely for Brooklyn to pick up the option, considering the cost, but as Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com points out (on Twitter), the decision indicates the Nets likely do not think too highly of Karasev. Brooklyn does not have any other pending rookie scale team options for this year. The Nets have $45,379,214 in guaranteed salary for 2016/17.

Karasev appeared in 33 games for Brooklyn last season season, averaging 4.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 16.8 minutes per contest. The swingman was originally drafted by the Cavs with the No. 19 pick in the 2013 draft.

Nets Notes: Sale, Karasev, Prokhorov, 2016

March 13th, 2015 at 12:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Evercore Partners, an investment banking firm Mikhail Prokhorov hired to help facilitate a prospective sale of the team, made the decision to end their relationship with the Nets, and not the other way around, as previously indicated, according to Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com. Prokhorov and company would prefer to sell a minority stake in the club, as Robert Windrem of NetsDaily reported previously and as Ozanian reiterates, calling it the primary holdup for the sale of any portion of the team. The “sale process was a mess,” a sports banker tells Ozanian, who also hears that interest from would-be buyers has been weak. There’s plenty more on the Nets, as we detail:

The Nets anticipate that Sergey Karasev will be healthy in time for training camp next season, the team announced. The 2013 19th overall pick underwent season-ending surgery on his right knee.
Prokhorov is much less of a presence around the Nets than he used to be, notes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who cites all the shortcomings of the team as he goes over reasons why the owner might want to hide.
Almost every team is set to be able to open cap room for a maximum-salary contract in the summer of 2016, but Tim Bontemps of the New York Post believes free agents are more likely to choose the Nets and Knicks over small market clubs that lack contending cores.

Sergey Karasev Out For Season

March 11th, 2015 at 6:23pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nets have announced that swingman Sergey Karasev has been diagnosed with a dislocated patella and a torn MCL of the right knee, along with multiple loose bodies in the knee joint. The injury will require surgery to repair and Karasev will miss the remainder of the season. The procedure is scheduled for Thursday. The injury occurred during the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s contest against the Pelicans.

The loss of Karasev isn’t a crushing blow to the Nets, since the Russian wasn’t a regular part of Brooklyn’s rotation. Karasev had only appeared in four of the Nets’ last 17 contests, logging a total of 31 minutes. Brooklyn does have an open roster spot, so the team will be able to add another player for depth if they choose without needing to make an additional roster move.

Karasev, 21, has appeared in 33 games for Brooklyn this season, averaging 4.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 16.8 minutes per contest. The swingman was originally drafted by the Cavs with the No. 19 pick in the 2013 draft. Karasev had been acquired by the Nets last July in a three-team trade.

Nets, Kings Discuss Deron Williams Deal

December 30th, 2014 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

DECEMBER 30TH: The Nets also expressed interest in acquiring Nik Stauskas as part of a deal, but the Kings were reluctant to give him up, reports Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.

2:27pm: The talks aren’t completely dead, Broussard cautions in a full story, and a source tells the ESPN scribe that he expects the teams to continue their conversation until the February 19th trade deadline.

DECEMBER 23RD, 10:57am: The conversation between the Kings and Nets is “virtually dead,” since Plumlee, and not Williams, was Sacramento’s primary target and Brooklyn is unwilling to give up Plumlee, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

DECEMBER 20TH, 8:24pm: Talks aren’t ongoing for now, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link). The Kings made the initial inquiry, according to Raskin and Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game (Twitter link). Still, the discussion is liable to pick back up, since the Nets are listening to all offers, Raskin tweets, adding that Brooklyn considers none of its players untradeable, an assertion that would seem to conflict with the other reports indicating that Plumlee is off-limits. Sources “emphatically” told Tim Bontemps of the New York Post that Plumlee isn’t going anywhere, however.

5:49pm: The Nets and Kings are in trade talks about Deron Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who cautions that no deal is imminent. A source confirms the talks to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who nonetheless hears that the sides aren’t at all close to a deal that this point (Twitter link). The discussion involves Darren Collison, Derrick Williams and Jason Thompson from Sacramento’s side, according to Wojnarowski. The Kings would like for Mason Plumlee to be a part of any transaction, and that’s a stumbling block from the Nets’ perspective, Wojnarowski adds. Plumlee is virtually untouchable as far as Brooklyn is concerned, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck tweets, and the same is true of Sergey Karasev and Bojan Bogdanovic, as NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem hears (Twitter link). The Kings are high on Collison and hesitant to give him up, but the Nets want to have a point guard to replace Williams should they give him up, as the Yahoo scribe details.

The relationship between Deron Williams and the Nets has chilled over the past two years, and there’s mutual appeal to parting ways, sources tell Wojnarowski. Conversely, Williams and Kings coach Tyrone Corbin have a relationship that’s persisted since their years together in Utah, where Corbin was an assistant coach while Williams played with the Jazz. The Kings are thrilled with Collison so far this season, Wojnarowski writes. Still, they’ve poked around for an upgrade at point guard since signing Collison over the summer, having asked the Timberwolves about Ricky Rubio before Rubio signed his extension with Minnesota in October, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The Kings maintained interest in Rajon Rondo, though the Celtics’ demands for him were reportedly too high for Sacramento’s liking.

The Nets have had talks about moving Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson of late as they appear ready to make major changes. They also looked into the idea of trading for Lance Stephenson and spoke to Boston about Rondo before he went to the Mavs, according to earlier reports.

Deron Williams’ salary of more than $19.754MM for this season and the two additional years that remain on his contract make him tough to move, especially considering the decline in his performance since he signed the maximum-salary deal as the marquee free agent in the 2012 market. He averaged 20.1 points and 8.7 assists the season before he signed the max contract and is putting up 15.6 PPG and 6.8 APG this season. Those numbers are similar to the 15.6 PPG and 6.1 APG that Collison is putting up for the Kings this year, as Windrem notes (on Twitter). Collison makes about $4.798MM this season, less than Derrick Williams and his salary of more than $6.331MM and Thompson, who’s getting almost $6.038MM.

Jazz Enter Andrei Kirilenko Trade Picture?

December 5th, 2014 at 6:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

DECEMBER 5th, 6:24pm: Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link) reports that league sources have informed him that it is “very possible” the Jazz will acquire Kirilenko in exchange for Evans and Murry when the players are eligible to be dealt on December 15th. The Russian forward had returned to the Nets on December 1st after leaving the team to deal with an undisclosed family matter back in New York. This absence clouded the trade talk surrounding Kirilenko, since teams were unsure if he would be willing and able to report to them in the event of a deal.

4:22pm: A source tells the Nets Daily scribe that the Nets and the Jazz haven’t spoken about Kirilenko, and a second source also casts doubt on Stein’s report, Windrem also writes.

NOVEMBER 24th, 8:37am: One of the options in play for the Nets should they opt to trade Andrei Kirilenko would be swapping him to the Jazz for Toure’ Murry and Jeremy Evans, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Such a deal couldn’t take place until December 15th at the earliest, because Murry signed with Utah in the offseason. The Utah possibility advances the notion that the Sixers aren’t the only team in the mix for the 33-year-old Russian-born forward. Reports Friday indicated that preliminary talks had taken place between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, but little progress has taken place in those discussions, according to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com.

Nets swingman Sergey Karasev was also a part of the conversation involving the Sixers, but Stein didn’t mention him with regard to the Jazz. The Russian ownership of the Nets is enamored with Karasev, who like Kirilenko hails from their country, writes Robert Windrem of Nets Daily. That’s a sentiment apparently shared by others around the league, as an NBA front office source suggested to Lynam that the Nets would probably be able receive a future first-round pick for Karasev, while another told her that Brooklyn was more likely to merit two future second-rounders for him. The Nets are on the lookout for draft picks and are unlikely to relinquish the ones they already have, particularly their first-round picks, according to Windrem, and teams are offering picks for Kirilenko, Windrem writes in a separate piece. The Cavs are reportedly sniffing around Kirilenko, but it’s not clear if they’re among those putting picks on the table.

Murry has been on D-League assignment since November 13th, averaging 14.5 points in 30.3 minutes per game for the Idaho Stampede. The second-year guard has yet to play in a game for Utah after spending last season with the Knicks and signing with the Jazz in the offseason for two years and $2MM, with only $250K of this year’s $1MM guaranteed. Evans, a combo forward, is in his fifth NBA season, all of which have been with the Jazz, and he has seen just 13 minutes of action across five appearances for Utah so far this year. He’s making nearly $1.795MM in fully guaranteed salary in the final season of a three-year contract.

Kirilenko makes more than $3.326MM in fully guaranteed salary this season on an expiring deal, so the structure of the possible Utah swap would be a money-saver for the Nets in raw salary as well as luxury tax. He makes about $531K more than Murry and Evans combined, and the Nets could save more if they cut Murry after they traded for him. Murry will have earned more than his $250K partial guarantee by December 15th, but the Nets could still save about $712K of his $1MM salary. Brooklyn would have to drop a player to accommodate such a deal with Utah, since they’re at the 15-man roster limit, as our roster counts show. It’s unclear if the Jazz, Kirilenko’s original team, would waive him after acquiring him as the Sixers would reportedly be likely to do.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Kirilenko, Karasev

November 29th, 2014 at 8:46am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics are struggling this season and are trying to maximize the talent that they have on their roster, but Boston is a team filled with complementary players and is badly in need of a star, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald opines. The coaching staff’s primary focus right now is to try and get the most from the players they currently have, notes Bulpett. “I think that’s the only way for me to look at it, and that’s the only way to do my job to the best of my ability — coach the guys that are available, coach the guys that are here as well as we possibly can,” head coach Brad Stevens said. “And I think we’re getting closer, as far as playing to our standards more often than not. There’s a reason we’ve been right there, and that’s because we’ve been playing pretty well. The key is now can we get a little bit better, so that we’re better than right there.”

Here’s the latest from the Atlantic Division:

In an interview with Russian media, Cavs coach David Blatt relayed that he was a big fan of Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko, whom he coached when both were members of Team Russia, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily reports. “It is unfortunate that Andrei Kirilenko is not playing, because, from my point of view, he is the greatest Russian basketball player of all time,” Blatt said. “He did so much for Russian basketball and for me personally, and I very much support him.“
When asked about the possibility of the Cavs obtaining Kirilenko via a trade, Blatt said, “In the NBA, there are very strict rules that prohibit coaches from commenting on such things about players on other teams. So in this respect, I will not say anything.”
Sergey Karasev‘s father, Vasily, spoke about his son’s frustration with his lack of playing time with the Nets in an interview with Timur Rostomov of Sport-Express (translation via the same NetsDaily piece). The elder Karasev said, “One season in the NBA has already passed on the bench, and now, that Sergey is 21 years [old], it’s imperative that he play, not sit. He understands this and is frustrated. He is not interested in salary. He just wants to get on the court, to grow and develop. As I understand it, the coach of Brooklyn, Lionel Hollins, does not see him in the lineup, so it’s difficult for Sergey to influence the situation. He needs to be patient.”

Nets, Sixers Discuss Andrei Kirilenko Deal

November 21st, 2014 at 3:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:24pm: The Nets would likely receive a trade exception if the teams were to do a deal, Youngmisuk tweets, meaning that the Sixers would probably send some combination of draft compensation, draft-and-stash prospects and cash to Brooklyn. Trade exceptions are created as functions of trades and they are not technically assets that change hands in deals.

3:05pm: Brooklyn and Philadelphia have had preliminary talks about a deal that would send Andrei Kirilenko to the Sixers, who would likely waive him, reports Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). Sergey Karasev is also involved in those discussions, Youngmisuk adds. It’s unclear what the Sixers are talking about sending to Brooklyn. Kirilenko is away from the Nets for personal reasons.

A source told Tim Bontemps of the New York Post that Kirilenko’s absence wasn’t related to his lack of playing time, as we passed along earlier, but Bontemps wrote in the same piece that it appeared “inevitable” that if the Nets didn’t trade him, they would strike a buyout deal. Still, a trade would most likely happen after December 15th, Bontemps says, when most players who signed this offseason become eligible to be traded and trade talk usually picks up leaguewide.

Karasev, the 19th pick from the 2013 draft, has seen even fewer minutes than Kirilenko has this season for the Nets, who acquired Karasev over the summer from the Cavs. The 21-year-old swingman has scored only two points in 14 minutes of action so far in 2014/15, and he didn’t see much time as a rookie last year in Cleveland, either. The Sixers nonetheless may see value in Karasev, since he became a first-round pick just a year and a half ago. He and Kirilenko are both natives of Russia, like Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

The Nets and Sixers both have full 15-man rosters, but each team possesses multiple players without fully guaranteed salary, as our roster counts show. Kirilenko is making more than $3.3MM this season on his fully guaranteed contract, which expires this summer, while Karasev is due nearly $1.534MM this year and has one more guaranteed season on his rookie scale contract worth almost $1.6MM for 2015/16. Nets GM Billy King and Sixers GM Sam Hinkie swung a deal just last month in which the Nets gave up a protected 2019 second-round pick to entice the Sixers to absorb Marquis Teague‘s guaranteed salary, but Kirilenko is making about three times Teague’s pay, notes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).

Nets Opt In For 2015/16 With Plumlee, Karasev

October 24th, 2014 at 10:28am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets have exercised their team options to keep Mason Plumlee and Sergey Karasev on their rookie scale contracts through 2015/16, the team announced. The moves were expected for both, and particularly for Plumlee, who was a part of Team USA’s gold medal-winning squad in the FIBA World Cup this summer after a strong rookie season last year. Plumlee will make nearly $1.416MM in 2015/16, while Karasev is in line for almost $1.6MM that year, as our Rookie Scale Team Option Tracker shows.

Plumlee, the 22nd overall pick in 2013, was efficient in his time on the floor last season, racking up a 19.0 PER, and he began to see more significant run after Brook Lopez went down to injury, averaging 9.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game after the All-Star break. Karasev came to Brooklyn via trade from the Cavs, who drafted him last year three picks before the Nets selected Plumlee. The small forward from Russia made it into just 22 NBA games for an average of 7.1 minutes per contest as a rookie, but Brooklyn, owned by fellow Russian Mikhail Prokhorov, insisted on receiving Karasev in the deal instead of a pair of second-round picks.

The moves give the Nets about $58.7MM in commitments against a projected $66.5MM salary cap for 2015/16, though that figure doesn’t include a player option worth more than $16.7MM for Lopez. It also doesn’t take into account a rookie scale team option worth more than $2MM for Marquis Teague, but the Nets are reportedly close to trading Teague to the Sixers.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Anthony, Karasev

October 13th, 2014 at 10:02am CST by Chuck Myron

The Raptors are strong favorites to repeat as Atlantic Division champs, as Hoops Rumors readers asserted last month, a feat that would be a first in franchise history. It’s easy for forget that a year ago, the team was on the verge of a tear-down as new GM Masai Ujiri was unsure about just what he had on the roster. The Raptors didn’t make any superstar additions in between now and then, and their sudden success story is a model that many other front offices would certainly like to duplicate. While we wait to see if Toronto can keep it up, here’s more on the Raptors and their rivals in the Atlantic Division:

The Raptors aren’t ready to commit to any of the three players seemingly competing for the final spot on the team’s regular season roster, coach Dwane Casey said, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun details. “We’re not in a hurry whatsoever,” Casey said. “All three men have done an excellent job in practice. Will Cherry is as tough a little competitor as you can find. Jordan Hamilton is a great scorer and really fighting on the defensive end and Greg Stiemsma is a solid, solid big man, veteran big man who has done some great things in the post. It may go down to the wire, the last day of camp because those guys have deserved it.”
Joel Anthony certainly had plenty of financial incentive when he opted into his $3.8MM salary this season, but he maintains that money wasn’t his primary motivation to stick with the Celtics, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald notes. “It was about wanting to get an opportunity to come into camp and get a chance to prove myself and get on the court,” Anthony said. “This was the best opportunity I had. I don’t know what would have happened in free agency or whatnot, but I just felt that coming back to the team after being here the last three months and knowing the coaches and knowing the players and everything like that, this was what was best for me. It just seemed like a better situation for me to come back here.”
The Nets had the chance to acquire a pair of second-round picks in this summer’s three-team trade with the Cavs and Celtics, but they insisted that they receive Sergey Karasev instead, NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem tweets.

Nets Acquire Jarrett Jack In Deal With Cavs, Celts

July 10th, 2014 at 10:06am CST by Chuck Myron

10:06am: The second-rounder going from the Celtics to the Cavs is for 2015, according to Cleveland’s official announcement on the trade. It’s top-55 protected, and if it doesn’t fall within the final five picks of the second round, Boston’s obligation regarding the pick will be extinguished.

THURSDAY, 9:21am: The trade is official, the Nets announce.

“Jarrett is a proven NBA veteran who will add versatility to our backcourt,” Nets GM Billy King said in the team’s statement. “The team had a need in that area and we are excited that we were able to secure Jarrett to fill that role. Sergey is a player who we have followed closely for several years. He is a versatile forward and will be a welcome addition to our roster.”

WEDNESDAY, 10:02am: The Cavs will receive the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman, Christian Drejer and Edin Bavcic from the Nets, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. They were second-round picks in 2012, 2004 and 2006, respectively. The first-rounder going from Cleveland to Boston is top-10 protected in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and becomes unprotected for 2019, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).

9:46am: The Cavs, Nets and Celtics will complete a three-team trade that sends Jarrett Jack to the Nets and opens up the cap flexibility necessary for Cleveland to give LeBron James a max contract, as Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe confirms (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported that the clubs were on the verge of a deal. Sergey Karasev will go to the Nets as well, while Marcus Thornton, Tyler Zeller, and a first-round pick are headed to Boston. The first-rounder the Celtics are getting is for 2016, as Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reported, and Holmes says that pick is coming from the Cavs (Twitter link). The Celtics send a future second-round pick to the Cavs, Holmes tweets.

It appears as though the Celtics will slip Thornton, who’s set to make $8.575MM next season, and Zeller, set for slightly more than $1.5MM, into the nearly $10.3MM trade exception left over from last year’s Paul Pierce trade, as Goodman pointed out. The Cavs No. 1 option is using the max-level cap flexibility the deal creates to chase LeBron, but if not, they’ll reportedly go after second-tier free agents, with Trevor Ariza apparently among their targets.

Cleveland and the Nets were reportedly working for weeks on a trade involving Jack and Thornton, but with the Cavs uninterested in taking back Thornton’s salary, the involvement of a third team became necessary. The Hawks were among the teams the Cavs were reaching out to, but the idea of acquiring Thornton was apparently a turn-off for them. Enter the Celtics, who’ve been looking to acquire assets necessary to enhance their standing for a Kevin Love trade.

The Nets end up with a backup point guard to replace Shaun Livingston, who signed with the Warriors. They also receive Karasev, just a year removed from having been the 19th overall pick in the 2013 draft, to help inject youth into a veteran-laded team. The Nets believe Jack could even start next to Deron Williams, as Livingston did for much of last season, while they were eyeing Karasev during the draft last year, TNT’s David Aldridge tweets.