Nets get younger with Robinson, Larkin
The Nets continued to act on their mission to get younger and more athletic Thursday by agreeing to twoyear deals with free agents Thomas Robinson and Shane Larkin, according to league sources.
Both deals come with playeroptions for the second year, as the Nets continue to reshape their roster following their most important moves of the summer — the resigning of Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young. Rob inson will earn the minimum, while Larkin — who spent last season with the Knicks — will earn $1.4 million.
There has been mutual interest in Robinson coming to Brooklyn since last season, when the 24yearold was waived by the Trail Blazers after the trade deadline. The 76ers claimed him off waivers before he could land with Brooklyn.
Robinson, who averaged 5.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in 54 games for the Blazers and Sixers, fills an important need for the Nets, who entered free agency with a glaring need for reserve bigs behind Lopez and Young. The 6foot9 forward has already spent time on four teams through the first three years of his career, getting traded twice within a year of being the No. 5 overall pick by the Kings in 2012.
Signing Larkin, 22, cuts into the Nets’ taxpayer’s midlevel exception, worth a little less than $3.4 million for next season. The Nets will now have roughly $1.9 million of that exception left to sign another player this summer.
Discussing the Nets’ roster needs after their playoff elimination, coach Lionel Hollins specifically mentioned adding quickness and athleticism at point guard.
Larkin, son of Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, brings those qualities. He averaged 6.2 points, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 76 games for the Knicks last season, shooting 43.3 percent overall and 30.2 percent from 3point range.
In an ironic twist, Larkin was taken with the No. 18 overall pick in 2013 — the pick the Nets traded to Atlanta for Joe Johnson in 2012.
With Robinson and Larkin on board, the Nets now have 15 players under contract for next season for roughly $97 million. That has the Nets on course to pay somewhere between $38 and $47 million in luxury taxes, depending on where the salary cap and luxurytax thresholds are set at the end of the league’s annual audit moratorium July 9.
Including Cliff Alexander and Ryan Boatright — who are on the team’s summer league entries and who have a shot at being invited to training camp — that roster number is 17. Teams can carry as many as 20 players going into training camp, but need to be down to the 15player limit by the time the regular season begins.
The Nets announced Thursday forward JayVaughn Pinkston tore his ACL while practicing with their summer league team in Orlando.