Keeping Cam by far Nets’ No. 1 priority
For some (most?) teams, free agency is all about recruitment. But for this year’s Nets, it’ll be about retention.
When free agency starts at 6 p.m. Friday, priority No. 1 for Brooklyn is going to be holding on to Cam Johnson.
Yes, there will be incessant clickbait, trade-machine stories of how to get Damian Lillard in a Brooklyn uniform. But both the Nets and their star player, Mikal Bridges, will be more focused on keeping Johnson in one.
“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Bridges told The Post. “I know a lot of people probably want him on different teams. I just tell him ‘I know money and this and that, but just know where I want you. And you can’t leave your Twin!’
“But he knows. He knows that I never want him to go. And I hope that he stays and they offer him a really good deal. Get my boy paid and go from there.”
That pay is expected to be a four-year deal approaching the $90 million Bridges got from the Suns.
Johnson and Bridges were so close in Phoenix they were dubbed ‘The Twins,’ and both arrived in February’s Kevin Durant trade. But while Bridges is just heading into Year 2 of his teamfriendly deal, Brooklyn tendered Johnson a qualifying offer on Wednesday. That made him a restricted free agent, meaning they can match any offer sheet he signs with another team.
“Cam knows how we feel: We hope he’s back. But he’s going to have decisions to make,” said Nets GM Sean Marks. “He’s a big priority for us. There’s no question there.”
Just as they locked Nic Claxton up before he ever fielded offers from other teams last summer, the Nets hope to do the same with Johnson. It’s easy to see why, after he boosted his scoring average to 16.6 per game for Brooklyn, including 18.5 in the playoffs on 42.9 percent shooting from deep.
A 6-foot-8 forward who can stretch the floor, defend and is just entering his prime would be one of the most coveted wings on the market. Johnson has been eyed by Detroit and Houston, but the Nets may not have to contend with the latter.
The Rockets are flush with cap space but will reportedly give Fred VanVleet a two-year, $83 million deal and Dillon Brooks a twoyear contract paying $14 million-$16 million annually, per NBA insider Marc Stein. That would chew up the cap space they could’ve pursued Johnson with. That leaves the Nets to fend off the Pistons and any other surprise suitors. Resigning Johnson would put the Nets over the luxury tax.
Brooklyn comes into the summer $10 million under the tax threshold before resigning Johnson. If his deal starts with a $20 million salary for next season, they’d have to shed at least $15 million in salary to avoid the tax, according to former Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks, now with ESPN.
If they don’t, Brooklyn would be over not just the luxury tax but the so-called ‘first apron’ in the new collective bargaining agreement that kicks in on Saturday, as well as the repeater tax.
Sources told The Post that they’re unlikely to trade Spencer Dinwiddie to shed salary, but they could move Royce O’Neale or Dorian FinneySmith, both of whom have garnered first-round pick offers. With it’s uncertain the Nets would even use the taxpayer mid-level exception, they would likely have to go after only players on veteran minimum contracts or seek modest returns in any O’Neale deal (KJ Martin? Cedi Osman?).
There are decisions on their own free agents. They hold Bird rights on Seth Curry, who is extension eligible through Friday, but the veteran seems destined to leave. The Nets, according to sources, did not extend qualifying offers to David Duke Jr. and Dru Smith, making both unrestricted free agents.
Yuta Watanabe is an unrestricted free agent who seems destined for a veteran’s minimum.
Ben Simmons won’t join Patty Mills on Team Australia in the FIBA World Cup next month, according to reports. The three-time All-Star — who is recovering from a nerve impingement in his back — is expected to be ready for training camp in early September. brian.lewis@nypost.com