Cap Consequences — Brooklyn’s Dangerous Game
The Nets have done well to acquire assets, but will the hefty contracts they also took on be a burden in the future?

Most NBA aficionados, experts, and ultra-fans respect what the Brooklyn Nets have been doing.
The Nets set themselves back 3–5 years with their mega-deal with Boston that saw them effectively net two early playoff exits and then plunge into the basement of NBA teams.
But a regime change sees new coach Kenny Atkinson and former player Sean Marks as GM, and they have shown they are willing to make moves, and take back hefty contracts, to find a way to acquire assets for the future. The team traded their unprotected 2014, 2016, and 2018 picks to Boston in the Garnett/Pierce deal, as well as their 2017 pick swap, which is the reason Jayson Tatum is wearing White and Green, not White and Black.
With such a bleak future in the draft, the team has started to make some serious moves and drastic measures to acquire under 25 talent. The Nets, who stood at around $66 million in cap space before some of their summer transactions, decided to soak up that massive cap space by taking back the contracts of Timofey Mozgov, DeMarre Carroll, and Allen Crabbe. What did they get for taking that money off their books? A shiny return — the no. 2 overall pick of 2015, D’Angelo Russell, a first and second rounder in 2018, and Crabbe himself was the prize.
All these three different transactions had different motivating factors. The Lakers deal got them a guard they can build around, to possibly eventually hand the reigns to. Russell had a rocky start to his NBA career, with maturity and chemistry issues rising in the Los Angeles locker room as they sputtered their way to 20 win seasons. But he has raw talent, and a scorers mentality. He is what the Nets need right now, a guy to excite fans, and to score 25 points in a 30 point blowout loss to keep people watching until the fourth quarter.
The Carroll deal got the Nets a kings ransom for taking back a still solid, contributing 3 and D wing. They got Toronto’s 2018 first rounder and second rounder. And while that will be a mid 20s pick in all likelihood, that's where Marks and his scouting team can work their magic. Second round picks have more value now than ever, and Brooklyn should be able to find some usable talent.
The Crabbe deal was unique to the other two, as the bad contract they were taking back was in fact the prize return. Funny enough, they are paying him the contract they voluntarily gave him last summer as a restricted free agent. The Blazers matched last summer, but seem to have given some thought to paying a 10 point scorer off the bench nearly $20 million a season. For the Nets, he is a guy that they see a lot in, another scorer, and a guy that, whether he starts or not, is going to be a good piece for their young core.
All this financial work has created hope in Brooklyn. Hope is always good, hope is the idea behind all rebuilds. But some of these contracts may come back to haunt them.
The contracts they took back have 3 years remaining on Mozgov’s and Crabbe’s, and 2 years remaining on Carroll’s. While it is unlikely that the Nets surface as a contender in the next three years, there is a chance that they regain relevance and start to resurface as a place of winning basketball. The city of Brooklyn remains a free agent foothold, attracting a top free agent last summer in Jeremy Lin and even getting interest from premier free agent J.J. Redick this summer.
If this team won 40–45 games in the next three years, it’s combination of young talent and franchise prestige, along with an attractive market could make the Nets an attractive destination for players. However, the potential downside of having these contracts on the books means it may restrict their future attempts to sign a big time free agent or two that would catapult them into playoff conversations.
This team is undoubtedly prepared to take that risk, but must I remind you they were ready to take the risk of sending four firsts for the aging bodies of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry. As an optimist, this team gets to the playoffs in the next four years. But with that optimism comes the legitimate chance of winning. No one wants Timofey Mozgov getting in the way of that.
Only time will tell if the Nets actually suffer from these large contracts in any way other than financially, but perhaps foresight is necessary here as it would have been quite necessary in 2013.