Brooklyn Nets to Make Lucrative Offers to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Otto Porter Jr.
The Brooklyn Nets know that they are unlikely to attract any of the marquee free agents this offseason. They even missed out on second-tier free agents like J.J. Redick and Joe Ingles. However, that hasn't stopped them from making things difficult for teams that are looking to re-sign their restricted free agents.
ESPN's Marc Stein has reported that the Nets will pursue Washington Wizards forward Otto Porter Jr. and Detroit Pistons guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency.
The Nets have enough salary cap space to offer either of them a lucrative contract, and if their current team wants to retain them, they will have to match the Nets' offer.
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According to Newsday's Greg Logan, the Wizards are planning to match any offer Porter receives, but the Nets may have a chance with Caldwell-Pope after Langston Galloway signed a three-year, $21 million deal with the Pistons.
"That put the Pistons more than $4 million over their hard salary cap, making it impossible to match a max offer to Caldwell-Pope without making a trade to move salary," Logan wrote in his report.
However, ESPN's Zach Lowe isn't sure if the Nets are still interested in Caldwell-Pope after they made the trade to acquire D'Angelo Russell from the Los Angeles Lakers.
"Does Brooklyn, heavy on guards in the wake of the Lopez/Russell deal, really want to hand Kentavious Caldwell-Pope a max offer sheet?" Lowe said.
Brian Lewis of the New York Post also said a source told him the Pistons are still planning to match any offers for Caldwell-Pope even after they signed Galloway.
If they fail to sign either Porter or Caldwell-Pope, Lewis has suggested that the Nets may use the available cap space to take on unwanted contracts instead and acquire draft assets. He also said the Nets are interested in free agent forward Rudy Gay.
