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[Brooklyn Nets]

Kyrie Irving joins ‘Big Three’ blame game ... two years on

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Can we ever get beyond it? Apparently not.

In the second episode of SCOUT, the Brooklyn Nets internally produced docu-series on the 2025 Draft, assistant GM, B.J. Johnson addressed the team’s scouts and offered them his take on what they should be looking for in the “next Nets” and where Brooklyn stands in terms of priorities in general.

“A lot of work went into what Brooklyn is going to be in the future,” said Johnson who joined Seam Marks early in his nine-year tenure as GM. “Regardless of who comes in here, we’re not going to change. They’ve got to adjust to us. Overall, that’s what it’s about here.”

The reasoning behind Johnson’s statement was not further examined, but it didn’t need to be. The organization’s intentions were clear: they did not want a repeat of 2020 through 2023 when the Nets were covered less for their achievements on the court than their controversies off it ... ugliness that ultimately led to. in order, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, three future Hall of Famers, asking out, leaving the fan base crippled and fingers pointed everywhere.

Character counts, Marks emphasized in discussing each of the first round picks in 2025, not intimating that the Big Three didn’t have character just that character will guide the team going forward.

“We’re looking for guys who have the qualities we’re looking for: high character, competitive individuals who play the right brand of basketball.” Marks told reporters after the first round. Players taken with those five first rounders were described as a “hard worker,” a “class act,” a “great young man,” or “demanding the respect.” Some all of the above.

A response to the troubles caused by the Big Three’s personality issues? Indeed it seems that the Big Three experience still colors everything the team does, for better or worse. After all, while KD, Kyrie and James are gone, the key players inside team offices — Joe Tsai, Sean Marks and Johnson — remain. Lesson learned?

Moreover, we will never be permitted to forget the Big Three era not just because of the enormity of what happened and the dreams that were lost but because they are always there to remind us, offering their own takes on why things didn’t work, which too often sounds like less like an apology and more back-biting.

Earlier this month, it was KD and Steve Nash talking with LeBron James, suggesting Irving and Harden hadn’t committed the way they should have. Now on Wednesday, it’s Kyire Irving, fulfilling the promise he made after listening to his former teammate (and apparently former friend) as well as his former coach. Like them, he did not take questions from someone objective, a writer perhaps seeking the final truth about the end of it all, but to a camera in a darkened room. (Is Nick Friedell available?)

Headlines from this one? There are a lot. Not all of them accurate reelections of what happened, but ones intended to paint him in a positive light. One big headline was that Irving blamed Durant for hiring the inexperienced Steve Nash as head coach.

“Steve wasn’t even in the play-in yet,” Irving said on Twitch stream, claiming that Durant pushed to hire Nash. “But this is your man’s. This is your man. So I got to support that. This is your man’s. Cool. You want him? Cool. You like Steve? I love Steve. You know what I’m saying? Cool. As a younger brother, I’m like, okay. I don’t care. That’s fine. You want Steve to coach. That’s fine.”

However, that is not quite accurate or accurate at all. Nash was Marks’ hire, not Durant’s. Marks and Nash had been friends and for years and Marks had tried to get his former teammate and his basketball mind on board, offering him job after job but to no avail. When Nash finally agreed to discuss the head coaching job after Kenny Atkinson was canned — Atkinson said this season that he lost his job because he was told he couldn’t handle superstars — Marks jumped at the chance to bring Nash on, no experience necessary.

KD who had worked with Nash when the Hall of Famer was a consultant to the Warriors agreed with the decision. We don’t precisely know what Irving’s role was in the process, but it was less than Durant’s. In one reported account, KD simply told Irving that Nash was going to be the coach. One theme of Irving’s soliloquy is that he was often shunted aside in favor of his teammate, that the Nets were always more interested in Durant than him.

Irving said that he didn’t meet with Nets officials before agreeing to sign, which strains the depth of Irving’s business sense at the least. After all, he did sign a four-year, $141 million contract that summer.

“(I didn’t meet) the Nets front office one time. I didn’t meet with the GM one time, the assistant GM one time, literally,” Irving said. “When I look back at that decision, I’m like, man, I should’ve taken some more time to delegate and figure out what’s best for me.”

He was the junior partner. Everyone understood that. While Irving says he didn’t meet with the front office, he doesn’t suggest there were no meetings with the team’s then-Russian ownership. His representatives certainly met with them as well as management. He and KD, for example, worked out how they were going to add DeAndre Jordan to the mix in the Clean Sweep.

“I wish I would’ve handled the business better and got a chance to know them first, ask them questions, ‘hey, what’s the future like?’ Instead of just committing blindly and thinking that ‘hey, we’re about to come in here and just do X, Y, and Z’ I didn’t have much power going in there. I couldn’t say who we could get and who we could not get. I couldn’t hire the coach. You guys knew my opinion on the head coach at the time.”

Irving doesn’t get much into his decision not to take the COVID vaccine but he does say that after he refused the shot, he asked the Nets to release him, which they refused to do.

“Even the people that I was in business with were pro-vaccine,” Irving said. “I’m like, OK, look, that’s fine, but just leave me the f–k out of this and let me go somewhere. I even told the Nets to release me. I said, ‘yo, can you please just release me?’ And, obviously, the money situation — different situation, I’m f–king Kyrie. I say that very aware of my position, but they weren’t just going to let me rock out.”

Bottom line for Irving, it appears, is that he wants to get beyond the criticism earlier this month that he and Harden weren’t as committed to the Nets success as KD had been. That, he admits, stung.

“When (Durant) said this, emotionally, I was like, ‘OK.’ We’re all committed to the goal at the end of the day, but sometimes not everybody’s going to follow what you want them to do,” said Irving. “I wish I had my soundboard for this, but not everybody’s going to do what you want them to do.

“Not everybody’s going to be committed the way you want them to be committed.”

At this point, Irving and Durant are not the friends they were before they joined up with the Nets. Apparently far from it. When after the two first played after they were traded, facing off in different uniforms, there were no warm greetings, no reunion.

Their relationship was not the only irritant for Durant, of course. He didn’t like Harden’s lack of conditioning, his affection for strip clubs over training rooms, rappers over teammates. Nor did he agree with Marks’ strategy in building a championship roster. In particular, he did not like the Harden trade for Ben Simmons, hated it according to what we’ve told, and he tired of Nash, thinking Ime Udoka should have gotten the big job. But no, he did not like Irving’s continuous “antics” as one team executive described the depth and breadth of controversies. ICYMI, here’s our essay from last year on the subject.

Of course, it’s all history. Next month it will be two and a half years after the final trade that ended the Big Three era with its 13-3 record in only 365 minutes of combined play. Since then as noted, Brooklyn has used the haul of players and draft picks to build “organically,” rather than with superstars. The KD trade alone has yielded 11 first rounders.

The organization and the fanbase were burned badly by the superstar experience. Durant is now on his second team since leaving Brooklyn. Same with Harden. Irving has had the greatest success since departing, getting to the Finals last year with Dallas, but he’s rehabbing torn ACL and his return date next season is uncertain..

Best wishes to all of them but at this point, they’re gone ... in NBA terms long gone. Besides, Durant turns 37 in December, Harden 36 next month, Irving is 33. Meanwhile back on the practice courts of HSS Training Center in Sunset Park, Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell and Ben Saraf are all 19. Danny Wolf is just turned 21. Same with Noah Clowney. Dariq White is 20. That’s where the focus should be.

• Kyrie Irving opens up on doomed Nets era after Kevin Durant questioned his commitment - Brian Lewis - New York Post
• Kyrie Irving puts Kevin Durant on blast for Nets’ failed Steve Nash hire - Erik Slater - Clutch Points

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/23/24473097/kyrie-irving-joins-big-three-blame-game-two-years-on

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

A new look coming for NetsDaily in August

Our coverage remains the same but with a new look

In just a couple of weeks, NetsDaily is switching to a new platform as part of SB Nation’s network-wide move to a new publishing platform. This will change the look of the site and also make it faster and more reliable on any device you use. This is an upgrade.

When you land on the site, it will look cleaner – less clunky, with more white space, a better ad experience with faster load times – but will still have all the usual articles, analysis, and news by all the folks you know.

Community discussion and content created by you will be more prominent in the new design. The best comment threads will be easy to find, and staff and commenters alike will be able to start conversations whenever they like with a brand new tool.

We’re planning on an early August reveal, so we wanted to give you a heads up. You’ll hear more from us when it’s almost here. The site will look a little different, feel a little faster, and, most importantly, have a bigger role for you, the community.

So, stick around and check it out!

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/24/24472168/a-new-look-coming-for-netsdaily-in-august

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Did Brooklyn Nets low-ball Cam Thomas?

Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images

Do the Nets want Cam Thomas back?

It’s another day of speculation about Cam Thomas’ future, this one fired by Jake Fischer’s podcast on Bleacher Report.

“Cam Thomas thinks of himself as one of the most elite playmaker scorers in the NBA, and he wants to be compensated as such. But to my understanding, the Brooklyn Nets have not offered Thomas anything more than a two-year deal with a team option on the second year in the $14 [million] AAV range,” Fischer told his listeners. That’s the full MLE, which is available to a half the NBA’s teams.

“At this point, Cam Thomas seems like the most likely to take the qualifying offer of all the notable restricted free agents on the board.”

That appears to be new or is it? Last week, Fischer said the Nets hadn’t really talked yet.

“Sources say that the Nets, in fact, have yet to even significantly engage their own restricted free agent: Scoring guard Cam Thomas,” he wrote, this time for The Steinline, describing the Nets negotiating strategy as “slow roll.”

Still earlier this month, Fischer suggested that Thomas may be looking for up to $30 million a year, much like the three other RFAs Josh Giddey of Chicago, Jonathan Kuminga of Golden State and Quentin Grimes of Philadelphia. Of the three, there only appears to be movement on Kuminga who is, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, being pursued by Sacramento and Phoenix.

So, Brooklyn doesn’t seem to have much urgency at the moment. But that shouldn’t be a surprise. They still have between $22 and $28 million left in cap space and again according to Fischer are “active” in the trade market. In fact, they have not yet officially signed either Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams to identical two-year, $12 million contracts. Both players, like Thomas, are RFA’s who have agreed to the deals but Sean Marks & co. are holding off before deciding whether to use either cap space or the $8.8 million room MLE, whichever is more efficient when the time comes. They have a lot of wiggle room. They’re $17.5 million under the salary cap floor.

Is the offer Fischer describes a first foray in negotiations? There seems little doubt the Nets want to keep Thomas. First off, they tendered him a qualifying offer at the deadline for such things at the end of last month — something they didn’t feel they needed to do with Sharpe and Williams. Moreover, in the midst of all this — and Thomas profane Twitter rant against Zach Lowe — a Nets coach told Keith Smith of Spotrac that “We love Cam Thomas ... We’ve never wavered.”

The restricted free agent market has been constricted by the CBA and its various aprons and thresholds — and the Nets monopoly on cap space.

“There’s no market for the restricted free agents at all,” said a league decision-maker, adding that is particularly true for Thomas for whom polarizing has become an alternate middle name. “I think that’s the right deal for the Nets.”

So, it’s not personal. It’s business. Plus there’s plenty of time left. No rush. If Thomas wants to play on the qualifying offer, he has until October 1 to make up his mind. It should also be noted that Fischer was expressing his opinion about whether Thomas would simply walk away. Thomas hasn’t suggested he would do that.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/25...ball-cam-thomas-a-two-year-deal-at-around-mle

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NY Liberty vs. LA Sparks preview: New York looks to extend its winning streak

Photo by Stephen Goslings/NBAE via Getty Images

The New York Liberty conclude their home schedule for July and look to extend their winning streak to six.

Last outing of the month. The New York Liberty took on the Phoenix Mercury last night and ran away with after halftime as they won their fifth consecutive game.

The opponent tonight is still looking to chart its new path forward. The Los Angeles Sparks began their road trip with a night time affair against the Connecticut Sun. The Sun put up a good fight, but the Sparks were too much to handle as they pushed their winning streak to four.

Where to follow the game​

My9 on TV. Liberty Live and Fox Local on streaming. League Pass for the out of towners. Tip after 7 PM.

Injuries​

No Nyara Sabally. As of now no one else is listed on the injury report so everyone's good to go

Cameron Brink has been out as she continues to recover from her 2024 ACL tear. She’s been upgraded to doubtful so her road to recovery has advanced to another level.

The game​

The Liberty won the first meeting earlier this month.

Kelsey Plum has taken well to her maiden California voyage. Plum is third in the WNBA in scoring at 20.1 points per game on .410/.373/.912 shooting splits. She’s historically been a tremendous finisher at the rim, but is only shooting 52.3 percent inside of three feet per Basketball Reference. For the Sparks to sneak in the postseason, they're going to need KP to have more success in the painted area.

Plum will match up against her good friend and rival, Sabrina Ionescu. It's an incredibly basic statement, but damn she is really, really good. As she continues to get lead ball handler reps, she's been able to strike the perfect mix of creating shots for herself and finding great looks for her teammates.

As Leonie Fiebich told us last night, Jonquel Jones is a force anywhere she is on the court. JJ is getting more and more comfortable now that she's back on the court. Her combination of deep shooting, physicality on the inside, and timing on both sides of the ball makes her impossible to deal with. The Sparks will (likely) be without their future defensive anchor in Brink, so Azura Stevens will have the assignment tonight. Stevens is having the best season of her career and had a real good case to be named to the All-Star team this season. Either way, her excellence has been appreciated by Sparks fans and her play has allowed the team to let Brink take as much time as she needs to rehab from last season's surgery.

Player to watch: Rickea Jackson​

It hasn’t been the sophomore season for the former University of Tennessee standout. She missed some time earlier in the year due to personal reasons, but recently returned and is playing good ball. Like a lot of players, she's at her best when she's playing aggressively, and recently explained why

“I feel like that’s when I’m playing my best basketball, when I’m being aggressive, from the jump, not overthinking and just taking what the defense gives me, but doing it with pace. And again, I feel like when we’re flying around on both ends of the floor, pace and moving the ball as we do, we’re going to play good.”

For Jackson, the task will be maintaining her aggressiveness within the flow of Lynne Roberts' offense. She's taking more threes this season, but has only made 27.6 percent of them. At this stage of her career, you can experiment and push her to try new things. The results may not be there today, but it will be in due time.

Breanna Stewart is looking to bounce back from an off shooting night. Stewie shot 3-12 from the field and has now seen her three point shooting fall under 20 percent on the season. It hasn't hurt her because she still does everything else at a high level, but when things get super tight in the playoffs, the Liberty will need Stewart to find something from deep. In the meantime, she'll look to wreak havoc on defense tonight against a Sparks team that's trying to make its way into the top eight of the standings.

From the Vault​

On July 26, 2005 Young Jeezy released Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. Let’s celebrate

And although it wasn't on TM101, it's still a banger so we gon' ride out to this

More reading: Silver Screen and Roll, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Strickland, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, CBS Sports, and The Next

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/26...n-breanna-stewart-kelsey-plum-sabrina-ionescu

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

ESSAY: Put aside the usage rates, the tweets, the pundits. Cam Thomas thrills the fans

Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images

Are the Nets playing the market or is the market playing them?

The Cam Thomas situation needs to be figured out. Even if it means the two sides go their separate ways.

There’s only so much we know that goes on behind closed doors. After all, these are negotiations and millions of dollars are on the line, more on the line for Thomas than there is for the Nets.

Here’s what we do know:

• Thomas is still a restricted free agent.
• Zach Lowe described Thomas is an “empty calories ball hog” and Cam responded with a “f-k you’.
• Keith Smith quoted a Nets coach as saying Thomas is “one of the best scoring guards in the league, and an underrated playmaker ... We love Cam.”
• Jake Fischer reported the Nets offered Cam two years, around $14.1 million per year — the MLE — with a team option in the second year.
• Thomas deleted all of his photos/videos on Instagram. He also made a point of working out at the players’ union gym in Manhattan and not HSS in Brooklyn. He didn’t travel to Las Vegas.

Who’s to blame? Perhaps neither side.​

The new CBA has decimated the 2021 draft class and whatever leverage they had — namely Thomas, Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, and Quentin Grimes. The Nets are truly the only team with legitimate cap space thus they’re competing against themselves in whatever they give Thomas, who missed a majority of his contract season with a hamstring injury and a total of 73 games over two years.

So, why should the Nets bid against themselves?​

It’s what Sean Marks has preached since the day he arrived in Brooklyn — treating players the right way. Not to mention his emphasis on rebuilding through a homegrown product that Brooklyn can be proud of. Thomas, whether we like it or not, is Brooklyn’s best scorer and probably one of two total. He’s homegrown. Although he’s imperfect on defense and he’s a high-volume shooter, he’s 23 years old and there’s no way of emphasizing this any more than I have: the Nets drafted him. He SHOULD be part of their development. Marks and the Nets SHOULD want that.

At least that’s what should be the case if we’re basing it on what Marks preaches.

“I do think it’s important to have some guys under contract that you control of the contracts...you drafted them, you develop them and they got to their 2nd contract under your watch. Those days are probably gone of going and getting 2 or 3 max free agents,” he said in April.

We watch basketball and love the game for what happens on the court. The money isn’t mine nor is it you who’s reading this (unless you’re Joe Tsai!). Like it or not, Cam Thomas has been one of the few bright spots for Nets fans. It’s undeniable even if you aren’t his biggest fan: He thrills us.

Brooklyn will live on with or without him, they’ve flaunted a good coach, draft capital, financial flexibility, and most importantly the New York City market. But the game IS about stars and Thomas is the closest to one currently dressing in black-and-white.

Is Brooklyn playing the market or is the market playing them?​

I remember writing an article for Boardroom after the franchise-tagged Saquon Barkley (essentially a team option after Year 1): “Are the Giants Playing the Market? Or is the Market Playing Them?” Barkley moved onto bigger and better things after the tag — he set NFL records and won a Super Bowl. Suffice to say his big season hushed the running back debate — even if it is lower paid than other celebrity positions. He earned himself a two-year, $41.2 million contract, the first RB to sign a $20 million deal (AAV).

In no shape, way, or form am I comparing Cam Thomas basketball player to Saquon Barkley football player. But their situations vis a vis their New York employers are similar.

The Giants had nothing to lose by giving him a fair offer. They weren’t very good and he was one of the few reasons fans tuned in and showed up. They didn’t do enough though.

Thomas, in his own respect, is in the same position with the Nets. He’s the most entertaining player on the team, especially taking into account how young and inexperienced the team is.

The Nets, like the Giants, face the conundrum of outsmarting themselves into a disaster. Especially if he goes and does well. It won’t feel good for anyone involved with the Brooklyn Nets.

Thomas is a baller and nobody denies that. He has eight 40-point games in his NBA career and he’s the youngest player in NBA history to record three consecutive 40-point games.

Is it a market problem or is it a philosophical problem?​

If he isn’t back in Brooklyn then there’s plenty of reason to believe that he might not be a fit in Marks and/or Jordi Fernandez’s vision for the Nets. For better or worse.

“It’s 0.5-second basketball, you catch and make a decision. You don’t hold the ball. It’s also where the NBA is going: guys who can play multiple positions, guard multiple positions, and make it hard on the defense,” said Marks on Draft Night. It was a telling comment

The Nets drafted five players in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, the most firsts ever taken by any team in the first round. All but one — Nolan Traore — are players 6’6” or taller and few adhere to a traditional position in the NBA.

Brooklyn wants a FIBA style of ball where it’s constantly swinging around the perimeter. Hence a big reason why four out of the five have passports issued by countries outside the U.S.

Ask J.J. Redick. He said in March: “With Jordi, I feel like I’m watching a FIBA team, you know? And that’s a real compliment.”

Here’s the thing: Thomas doesn’t fit that mold. He’s someone that’ll get you a bucket when you need it. He can put on a show in Brooklyn with the name proudly on his chest. Homegrown player. But his play is a contradiction to what they’re trying to build. It just is. Then again that coach quoted by Keith Smith seemed convinced there was a role for him.

“We love Cam. We think he’s one of the best scoring guards in the league, and an underrated playmaker. We’ll see what happens, but our feelings about Cam as a player and person have never wavered. We love him,”

We’re not in the business of outing other reporter’s sources, but that sounds like the head coach to us.

Before he finally went down after multiple hamstring issues, he ranked first in the NBA for points per possession on isolations (1.13) followed by:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 1.10

Jalen Brunson: 1.07

Kyrie Irving: 1.06

James Harden: 1.06

Luka Doncic: 1.06

Jayson Tatum: 1.01

It isn’t to say Fernandez doesn’t like Thomas, the evidence suggests the opposite. Jordi quite literally called his scoring a superpower.

But his philosophy — physicality on the defensive end plus constant ball movement on the offensive end — isn’t a mesh for a player like Thomas, who thrives in isolation and struggles defensively.

“Teams that that move the ball are more unpredictable, harder to guard, you can take better shots,” he said in September 2024. “How, again, can we develop this here with a younger group of guys? A lot of times you cannot control if the shot is going to go in, but what you can control is to teach what’s the right shot and what do we want.”

Brooklyn drafted four players who will ultimately compete with Thomas if he’s back. Egor Demin, Drake Powell, Nolan Traore, and Ben Saraf are all combo guards/playmakers. Thomas is 6’3” and he fits into the same category as the rest because he isn’t a pure point guard. Only Traore seems close to a traditional fit at point guard.

Do the Nets want to keep him? Giving him a qualifying offer is one piece of evidence and having the quote from the anonymous coach come out days after the Lowe tweets suggests they do indeed “love him.”

It’s also important to note that none of the many recent analyses of Thomas’ game — the most recent from Grant Afseth — quotes Nets sources. It’s been a “Western conference scout, an “Eastern Conference executive,” or “belief around the league.” And as noted up top, Thomas has not exercised his qualifying offer. The deadline for doing that is October 1.

Still...

In Conclusion...​

Get it done or move on.

“It isn’t personal, it’s business” is an easy way to chalk up the situation, but it’s far more complex than that. The market is what it is and there’s no fighting that. However, the thing that’s supposed to make this Brooklyn Nets culture/identity so pure is its ability to do right by their own, including this fanbase.

And it’s hard to say they’ve done that until Thomas is back at HSS Center in Brooklyn. Happy. If he’s unhappy with his contract but remains in Brooklyn, he will be shown the door at one point or another... and it won’t be pretty. None if it ever is. If he’s truly a priority for the Nets, one would have to assume this wouldn’t be part of a discussion right now.

If it all lingers any longer, a separation is probably best for Thomas’ career and whatever prophecy the Nets have in store.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/27...a-offseason-rumors-sean-marks-jordi-fernandez

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NetsDaily Off-Season Report - No. 14

Every weekend, we’ll be updating the Nets’ off-season with bits and pieces of information, gossip, etc. to help fans get ready for ... whatever.

Pooch had the Cam Thomas gig today. so that’s what we know and what we think.

Moving on.

So how young will the Brooklyn Nets will be this summer. At this point, barring a signing of a veteran or another salary dump, it looks like it will be among the youngest ever, not just for a Nets team whether in New Jersey in Brooklyn, but in NBA history.

Hoopshype did an exercise last year, averaging out the ages of every team in NBA history and came up the 25 youngest rosters. It was a weighted average as they noted:

We considered players’ ages as of February 1 (approximately mid-season) and factored in their playing time. (For example, a 22-year-old player averaging 35 minutes per game would have a greater impact on the final result than one playing only 10 minutes.)

The youngest they found was the Houston Rockets of 2022-23 with a weighted average of 22.69 years old. That roster, which went 22-60, included Jalen Green (20), Jabari Smith (19), KJ Martin (22), Alperen Sengun (20), Kevin Porter Jr. (20) but it also featured Boban Marjanovic (35), Eric Gordon(34) and and Frank Kaminsky who turned 30 the week the season ended.

The Nets on the other hand have no one older than Terance Mann (28) and Michael Porter Jr. (27) and instead of one teenager like the 2023 Rockets, have four in Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, Egor Demin and Drake Powell, only one of whom — Powell — will reach 20 by the time the Nets fly to Macao for the preseason opener.

Indeed, Traore by our calculation will be the fourth youngest player ever in a Nets uniform and Saraf probably the fifth. The only players to have their debuts earlier are Derrick Favors in 2010 before he was sent to Utah in the Deron Williams trade as the Nets two 2023 firsts, Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney who of course are still with Brooklyn.

Here’s a list of 22 players who might be on the list come the last week of September when the Nets take to the floor the last week of September in preparation for travel to Macao for the NBA China Games. It includes all 10 of the players on standard, guaranteed deals, the four on standard, non-guaranteed deals, the three restricted free agents

We included two Summer League players looked good — Tyrese Samuel, the former Seton Hall big, and Grant Nelson who played last for Alabama — as well as Fanbo Zeng, the Chinese big who has been persistently linked to the Nets...

Nets by age if you add Samuel and Zeng or Nelson in order
Traore 19
Saraf 19
Demin 19
Powell 19
Whitehead 20
Clowney 21
Wolf 21
Zeng 22
Nelson 23
Johnson 23
Sharpe 23
Thomas 23
Williams 23
Wilson 24
Evbuomwan 24
Timme 24
Samuel 25
Etienne 25
Claxton 26
Martin 26
Porter 27
Mann 28

— NetsDaily (@NetsDaily) July 26, 2025​

The Nets can bring 21 players to camp and again, they still have between a a third and half of their cap space, so this could change in the next 11 WEEKS!! Stay tuned.

Another fun fact from the Hoopshype list: of the 25 youngest teams, only three, all iterations of Sam Presti’s Thunder run, made the playoffs and of course this year’s OKC entry became the second youngest team to win it all. with Bill Walton’s 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers holding the record for the youngest championship team.

See there’s always hope!

As for the young Nets, some other points: Dariq Whitehead finally turns 21 next weekend. Drake Powell turns 20 on September 14, but the three others teenagers — Egor Demin, Ben Saraf and Nolan Traore don’t turn 20 till past the trade deadline. Traore has until the conference championships on May 28.

Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf adding to Nets popularity in Israel​

As we noted last season, the Nets are among the 10 most popular NBA teams internationally with more than 50 million fans outside the U.S. They are top three in France as well as China and now have a growing fan base in Israel following Draft Night in which the Nets took two Israeli passports holders, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf back-to-back in the first round.

“And if you look at the draft picks this year, you might they’ve opened up another,“ said Mark Rosentraub, a professor of sports economics at the University of Michigan and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “In Israel. One of them (Wolf), of course is in my heart because he was with us in Michigan. It’s not lost in Israel. It’s, you know. It surprised me. It shouldn’t have. Getting those two young men Israel back-to-back ... Well, it set off a frenzy in Tel Aviv.”

We saw the same thing in reading the Israeli press in the days after the Draft and the excitement continues and goes beyond Israel. Nets podcasters have noted a surge in Israeli traffic as fans there try to educate themselves on the team.

Pete from Nets Fans You Know tells NetsDaily that five percent of his audience for a Summer League wrap-up podcast emanated from Israel. Then for a discussion of Cam Thomas the next week two and a half percent of his viewers were Israeli based.

Prior to the Draft? “I had no views from Israel at all. ZERO. Anything on Ben Saraf gets a boost from there.”

Pete says that there has been an increase in French (Nolan Traore) and Russian (Egor Demin) viewership as well, but not on the scale of the Israeli interest.

And at The Brooklyn, our podcast, the situation is the same, as Collin Helwig reports:

“Israel is fifth in percentage of views on YouTube over last 28 days behind the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Philippines. Outside that time period though it didn’t even crack the top 20.”

MPJ’s tour worth a look​

Michael Porter Jr. laid out his first day on the job in a Vlog on his Curious Mike YouTube channel.

The Vlog got attention mainly in Denver for his comments on the practice courts (plural) at HSS Training Center. That. he noted, was twice the number at the Nuggets facility located within Ball Arena, their home venue. It would be like if the Nets were relegated to the small gym off the atrium behind the Fini Pizza.

In his tour, MPJ also noted a couple of other player amenities not found in Denver. HSS Training Center is one of the most modern in the NBA, the Nuggets near the other end. It may soon be replaced and while some might dismiss the disparity, Porter Jr. with one off-hand comment explained the importance of a top-flight gym for players to practice.

“I’m about to be in here all the time,” said MPJ

That was music to the ears of Irina Pavlova, who as president of ONEXIM Sports & Entertainment oversaw the construction of the $52 million facility which opened in February 2016.

“That’s exactly what we were aiming for!”

Final Note​

Offered without comment...

Good morning @NBA , I was wondering if any teams had a training camp spot for an kind chap like myself . I’m like a SUV got a lot of travel miles but for the long haul(long season) you can count on me. I also keep good air flow amongst the team. I also can guard just about anyone

— R.HollisJefferson (@IAmCHAP24) July 27, 2025​

Rondae is now 30 and playing in the Philippines.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/27/24475329/netsdaily-off-season-report-no-14

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

AMBITION: Joe Tsai talks to NetsDaily about his rising sports fortunes

How Joe and Clara Wu Tsai became first rank of the world’s sports families.

At around the same time the Buss family announced they were selling a controlling interest in the Lakers to Mark Walter, who owns the baseball team across town, a fan of the Washington Nationals tweeted this possibility to his followers ...

Reportedly Joe & Clara Wu Tsai owners of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, would buy out the Washington Nationals tomorrow and or shares of the Tanenbaum, but the price is too high, per sources pic.twitter.com/fTcQi2uRM4

— optimistic nats fan (@optimistic5518) June 18, 2025​

It was just a rumor — and we suspect that photo is AI-generated. The Washington Nationals are not currently for sale and there’s no indication the Tsais are interested in baseball ... as far as we know.

Still, the tweet is a reflection of how the sports scene is starting to view the Tsais: as a power couple who have an ever increasing appetite for sports assets ... centered on the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic but with wider horizons both by sport and geography.

In an exclusive interview with NetsDaily, Tsai said that pro sports assets are a favorite investment of his and his “family office,” Blue Pool Capital, which manages his and Clara Wu Tsai’s wealth, estimated as somewhere between $9 and $12 billion. Some of the strategy is personal; he loves sports. But it’s more business than personal and Joe Tsai is a very, very successful businessman.

“Soaring team values is a phenomenon in the top-tier leagues like NFL and NBA,” Tsai told ND. “These franchises trade like art – valuation is based on supply and demand as opposed to profits or cash flow. Demand far outstrips supply, and supply is strictly controlled and limited (that’s why they’re called ‘franchises’). The cachet of owning a team in a top league is always attractive to people who can afford it.’

And he is one of those people ... as he noted, “There are 30 NBA franchises and 3,000 billionaires in the world.”

Quietly over the last decade, the 61-year-old co-founder and chairman of Alibaba and his wife have acquired control or pieces of teams in the NBA, WNBA, MLS, indoor and outdoor lacrosse leagues as well as things like esports, sports data and analysis, digital sports of all kinds ... and the world’s third highest grossing venue in Brooklyn, N.Y., which increasingly looks like the center of where they are headed, toward a venue-based entertainment district.

Indeed, the number and value of their assets continues to rise, even accelerate with several new investments coming in the last month or two. Overall, the strategy is just now being noticed.

One indicator of how important sports is to the Tsai’s: the latest Bloomberg News breakdown of Joe Tsai’s net worth, which the news site estimated at $9.1 billion, puts the value of his sports assets, primarily the holdings of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, at a conservative $4.85 billion, amounting to 52% of his overall holdings. Bloomberg valued his holdings in Alibaba — 1.4% of the Chinese e-commerce giant’s stock — at nearly a billion dollars less: $3.95 billion. (Rounding out the estimate, said Bloomberg, is his New York real estate, primarily in apartments on Billionaires’ Row overlooking Central Park.)

Their sports investments are far from random or based on fandom, although Tsai admits his lacrosse holdings have been a “passion project.” He played the sport both at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and Yale.

Ollie Weisberg, who runs Blue Pool Capital, the family’s Hong Kong-based investment office, and is an alternate governor of the Nets, signaled last year that he — and the Tsais — see sports as an asset class of its own.

“When I think about about my marginal dollar today, sports is at the top of the list. Sports has become an actual asset class now,” Weisberg told Asian Investor magazine in an interview a year ago April. “We believe that the rising interest in live sports, and the increasing growth in media rights, that’s something we’re super excited about. It’s not just the NFL, the NBA, the NHL. It’s women’s soccer, women’s basketball.”

Tsai put it more succinctly in his ND interview.

“My sports investment philosophy: Invest in leagues where the best players in the world play – e.g, NBA, WNBA, NFL...”

It’s more than that, of course, as NetsDaily’s close reading of where he’s putting his money shows. Some of his investments are small, experimental forays into businesses to see if he likes what they offer. Others have helped business partners enter the Chinese sports space. He likes working with former sports superstars, too. But Tsai’s biggest investments emphasize the entertainment play. He’s taking the game outside the arena and wants to create “festival”-like fan experiences in a space his companies control ... destinations. His biggest asset in Brooklyn and his newest investment in Miami both speak to that.

Mark Rosentraub, Professor of Sports Management at Michigan University, explained to NetsDaily where Tsai sits in the history of the sports ownership noting that it’s always about leveraging the big sports investments in particular to generate income to pay for players’ salaries, always the biggest cost.

“Our professional sports began as vehicles to sell beer,” said Rosentraub. “That’s what’s professionalized the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Every time player salaries rose for any number of factors, owners always try to leverage sports for other things. So we went into advertising first. That was the outfield, the advertising on the walls. Then we went into radio, then to television. And what owners are doing now is, again, adapting or leveraging sport for other activities to generate income. It’s just simply the latest iteration of what began in 1867.”

“I think that what he has done is quite innovative. the next generation,” Rosentraub said. Tsai like other billionaire owners of sports teams is expanding the history “with a a venue operation that runs 24/7, 12 months a year. And so and what’s happening again in the last ...I put it like 10 years ... has now been the internationalization of these things.”

Rosentraub adds that there’s another value to the investment in entertainment districts. “I always try to my students the reason that owners love it is that that’s not considered sports related income, so they don’t have to share it with the players.”

Each of the big sports “empires”, the 25 or so that control an increasing number of teams around the globe, offers a different mix of assets, driven by opportunity as well as geography and, yes, fandom. While the growth of those empires has gotten a lot of positive press of late, there is a downside too, notes Stefan Szymanski, Rosenstraub’s U of Michigan colleague and fellow sports economist. Pro sports is becoming a monopoly controlled by billionaires.

“Sports wasn’t a big business for a very long time. It’s still not a large business when you compare it to, say the S&P 500,” Szymanski told ND. “It’s not that long ago that they were tiny businesses. They’ve really grown like topsy. And it now relies more and more on the very wealthy.”

It’s a double-edged sword for fans. Having a super rich owner as opposed to just very rich one — think Tsai or Mikhail Prokhorov vs. Bruce Ratner — provides teams with stability and resources, but the cost of being a fan keeps rising: tickets, merchandise, and especially the growing number of streaming services are limiting who can attend or even watch. By one recent estimate, being even a casual fan can cost up to $5,000 a year.

An ND compilation of Tsai’s investments, culled from various sources, including our interview with Tsai, public records and news accounts, shows the diversity of the strategy that the Tsais and Weisberg have pushed as well as its acceleration and enormity.

Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment​

At the top of the list, of course, is the 85% ownership of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment which controls the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Liberty and Barclays Center as well as lesser known assets like the retail space at the base of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank and a minority interest in the nearby Brooklyn Paramount Theatre. All of them and not doubt other greater or lesser businesses are destined to be part of a large-scale, venue-based multi-billion dollar complex.

Details remain vague, but it could ultimately include a hotel, restaurants, conference center, marketplace, community basketball center and supportive media operations, It’s what Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment CEO, Sam Zussman, calls a “ecosystem” or “destination” modeled on the billion dollar LA LIVE! built around what used to be called Staples Center.

“It’s a vision where you’re coming here; you can stay at our hotel; you can go to our game; you can dine at a restaurant; you can do a conference at our conference center; you can go to the magic show venue; you can go have a drink at our bar,” Zussman said when first broaching the idea last October. “And you’re constantly in our ecosystem.”

One indication or the Tsais’ success and potential in New York professional sports: BSE’s possibilities have proven attractive to some of the world’s richest individuals. Last June, the Tsais sold 15% of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment to members of the Koch family led by Julia Koch, the world’s third richest woman, and her eldest child, David Koch Jr, who’s now learning the trade as a basketball operations assistant at HSS Training Center. The purchase price was a reported $688 million. Some is being used to retire team debt but also to finance arena enhancements costing between $100 and $150 million over the next five years, the first brick-and- mortar piece in the planned ecosystem.

Then two months ago, Blue Pool sold a piece of the Liberty — according to Bloomberg in the “mid-teens” range — to a group of investors led by Jack Ma, the sixth richest man in China and the lead co-founder of Alibaba. The price was undisclosed but some guestimating would indicate a $40 million outlay by Ma and the group of five women business leaders. This money will also be used to help defray the cost of another brick-and-mortar investment: the Libs’ new $80 million training facility in Greenpoint.

It’s not an exaggeration to say the Tsais are the among most powerful owners if not the most powerful owners in the WNBA. The league’s ownership structure is divided into three pieces: the owners of the 13 WNBA franchises hold 42%; owners of the 30 NBA franchises hold another 42% and a group that invested in the league back in 2022 controls 16%. The Tsais are part of all three. Only Washington’s Ted Leonsis shares that distinction.

Not surprisingly, Tsai declined comment when asked about the state of the current CBA negotiations. How significant a role he will play remains uncertain. Wu Tsai has said she’s not involved.

At the core of the plans for whatever form the ecosystem takes is its most attractive element: the Nets and Liberty. Tsai describes why he thinks the NBA and WNBA are great cornerstones.

“Beyond the scarcity of the product, the economic structure of salary cap, revenue share, systems to ensure competitive parity within the league, TV/streaming contracts and international appeal all add to the value of the NBA,” he told us.

Tsai sees Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment as something bigger than basketball though, a compilation of IPs — intellectual properties — that are exclusive and thus more valuable. He emphasizes the “entertainment” in the company name.

“It’s a venue-based entertainment company with proprietary IP. Venues – Barclays Center, Brooklyn Paramount, One Hanson Place. Proprietary IPs – Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, Ellie (!), Planet Brooklyn Fest and more!” (Planet Brooklyn Fest, a two-day, three-venue musical celebration featuring block parties was first announced by BKMag, also part of the proposed “ecosystem.”)

Miami Dolphins​

Tsai’s biggest investment beyond BSE is his separate two percent stake in the Miami Dolphins as well as the other sports and entertainment entities controlled by Dolphins owner Steve Ross: things like the Hard Rock Stadium and a Formula 1 circuit etc. The stake was purchased in December 2024 from Ross, the NFL team’s long-time owner.

Tsai and Weisberg originally combined to acquire three percent but then two months ago, Tsai sold a third of that — one percent — to unidentified businessmen, no doubt at a profit. Again, no details on how much he paid (or how much he received) but another good guestimate is that the value of the stake is in the low nine-figure range, roughly $200 million.

Earlier this month. the Dolphins organization expanded even further, buying a 45% stake in the Miami Open, a premier if non-Grand Slam tennis event, giving Tsai a small piece of pro tennis tournaments as well as Formula 1, both of which are as much those coveted venue-based “festivals” as they are competitive sports.

“Investment in the Miami Dolphins is an easy financial decision,” Tsai told ND. “Steve Ross put together a terrific group of assets – NFL (massive TV contract), Hardrock Stadium (Taylor Swift concerts), Miami Formula 1, Miami Open tennis tournament – and he has a great management team.”

There’s no pathway to ownership for Tsai. Ross has been grooming his daughter, Jennifer, to succeed him.

LAFC​

Tsai has long held a small piece of the LAFC in Major League Soccer, buying in before he invested in the Nets. On one hand, it’s a vanity holding. Among the other high-powered Southern California sports and Hollywood celebrities with pieces are Magic Johnson, Will Ferrell, Mia Hamm, her husband, former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaperra as well as executives of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, UFC and WWE. On the other hand, it was a way for Tsai to get an understanding of how the MLS works before going deeper in the sport of soccer. Note that he hasn’t.

Lacrosse Leagues​

Lacrosse is, as noted, a “passion” investment for Tsai, lacrosse’s biggest advocate in the United States. He owns pieces of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs and San Diego Seals franchises in the National Lacrosse League (indoor) and a significant chunk of the unitary Premier Lacrosse League (outdoor).

His investments in lacrosse goes beyond owning pro teams. He financed Yale’s $40 million Tsai Lacrosse Field House which opened in 2021. When in 2016, the World Lacrosse Federation decided to seek renewed Olympic status for the sport. Tsai pledged $2.5 million to its operating budget. In 2028, lacrosse will make its return to the Olympics in Los Angeles after a 120-year hiatus.

E-Sports​

Blue Pool made an investment in 2019 — along with Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and others — in G2 Sports, a Berlin-based esports company. Again, like the LAFC investment, an opportunity to see how esports is run. And again, note that he hasn’t gone before

Sports Support Systems​

Blue Pool has also put money in what might be considered ancillary sports services. Early on in his pursuit of sports assets, he acquired a piece of Fanatics, Michael Rubin’s $30 billion digital sports empire that has its hands in everything from apparel to gambling; as well as a piece of Genius Sports, which supplies sports data to virtually every pro league and owns Second Spectrum, every crazed basketball fan’s go-to site for analytics.

In January, he acquired what may not be a pure sports play a piece of Golden Goose, the Italian luxury shoe wear company whose top-of-the-line brand goes for a thousand dollars. In a number of cases, like Golden Goose, the Tsais’ investments have been about helping sports entrepreneurs expand their business in Asia, the market Joe Tsai knows best.

Asian Youth Basketball ​

Last month, Tsai became the lead investor in the Asian University Basketball League, a 12-team college league that will begin across China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan in three weeks. In Tsai’s words, the hope is simple if the goal is ambitious: develop the next Yao Ming or Jeremy Lin. Reports said Tsai put up seven figures in the AUBL.

Tsai has also invested in the Joe Tsai Basketball Scholarship Fund. It’s a financial investment as such. It’s more giving back in that the fund provides scholarships to Chinese students who like Tsai used their time at a U.S. prep school to both hone their sports skills and get an education.

“I’m just thrilled that I get to help talented kids from China to play top-tier basketball at high schools in the U.S. while they get a sound education and build strong character.”

The fund “grooms next generation of Chinese basketball talents by enabling them to further their academic and athletic pursuits at an elite level at U.S. prep schools,” according to its website. Ten players — five boys, five girls — get a free ride annually with tuition, fees, room and board all paid by the scholarship fund.

Rosentraub likes the investments for another reason. It’s a way of building from the bottom in China, a business decision that he believes may be a consequence of what happened in 2019 when then Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting Hong Kong protests led to a breach in the league’s long-standing relationship with China. The “grassroots approach,” he says, is a hedge against political setbacks.

“In other words, get away from the professional area where you’re gonna have an environment of very different opinions,” said Rosentraub. “You had to change the equation. And what I mean by that is you had to create a different taste in the mouth. And by going to the youth, you’re building from the bottom up as opposed from the top down.

“I can’t believe the commissioner isn’t behind this 2,000 percent.” he added, noting that the value of the investment accrues to the NBA long-term as does Tsai’s role in repairing the breach with China. The value of that, unlike his other investments, cannot be enumerated, he said.

Rosentraub believes that where Tsai has been most innovative has been in taking the game not just outside the building but outside the country. “As a pioneer in that area (China), it’s the first one in who wins and he’s started on a brilliant course.”

Ellie the Elephant!​

Yes, Tsai lists Ellie the Elephant as one of his and Clara’s sports assets! The Tsais take particular pride in their team’s investment in Ellie which on one hand Joe Tsai calls an “IP” holding like the others, but on the other he cites the precious pachyderm as an example of how to expand sports to that larger experience and the prestige of the underlying asset, the Liberty. Ellie is everywhere from morning TV shows to commercials.

“Credit to the management team of the New York Liberty,” he said of Ellie whose character the team trademarked and owns and whose performer is a full-time employee of BSE. “They envisioned and developed the persona and story of Ellie organically. We’re proud that she is more than a fan favorite – her spunk and sassiness represent the DNA of Brooklyn.”

And no, he added, they are not going to reveal Ellie’s identity. “Never.”

There are small deals around the periphery of his larger investments, too. The Long Island Nets’ six-game foray into French-speaking Canada last season was done in conjunction with Groupe CH, the company that owns the Montreal Canadiens and the Bell Centre and is another sports and entertainment company.

Tsai has shied away from some sports businesses, he tells ND. He may have invested and made some money off their investment in LAFC of the MLS, but you don’t see him joining other international billionaires in European soccer. Unlike the NBA, there is no salary cap and you wind up competing with franchises owned by sovereign wealth funds with bottomless financial resources of petro-states. Moreover, as Szymanski, an expert in European soccer finances, notes, the continent’s soccer sphere is not as profitable as North American pro sports.

Similarly, while Blue Pool invested in e-Sports, the economics favor entities other than the teams. While the NBA and WNBA teams make money from sports betting, primarily through advertising, there are impediments for investors like Tsai. So much of the entry is dependent on political skills not business ones and there’s no customer loyalty, at least not to the betting houses.

How successful have the Tsais been, other than winning their first championship, the Liberty’s WNBA title last fall, largely ascribed to Wu Tsai’s vision and execution?

Profit margins are not public in most cases. The Nets appear to be somewhat profitable, the Liberty are nearing a profit, per Wu Tsai, and Barclays Center, as noted the third highest grossing venue in the world, is finally making money. The Dolphins stake is no doubt profitable.

The assets’ valuation is a more positive story. The Nets valuation is roughly double the $3.3 billion he paid Mikal Prokhorov for the team and arena in 2019. The valuation of the Liberty is up a lot more than that over that same period with a valuation estimated at $450 million, 30 times or more what the Tsais paid for it that same year he finalized the Nets deal. Ask James Dolan about their business savvy. He knows. He sold the Liberty for $10 to $14 million, mostly in debt relief.

Szymanski says beyond the profit margins and the valuation jumps, billionaires invest in sports seeking different and varied outcomes for themselves as individuals.

“The other rationale in economics is called the amenity value,” said Szymanski. “You want to own these things because they bring prestige. the pleasure when your team wins and business connections you can make by entertaining your business clients. You never get the attention you get from owning a sports team. There are many reasons why you might want to own one of these teams.”

He then added, somewhat but not quite jokingly, “Billionaires are often narcissistic and so they can pay people to be narcissistic for them,” meaning the athletes.

Another benefit is making connections with the greats of the games. Tsai invited Basketball Hall of Famer and his then NBA coach, Steve Nash; Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky; and six-time golf world champion Dustin Johnson to invest in his Las Vegas Desert Dogs of the NLL. Paul Rabil, his partner in the PLL, is considered one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. Tsai, through Blue Pool and Alibaba, once invested in a Jeremy Lin basketball app as well. There have been others as well.

Tsai’s interest in sports is not limited to his personal investing. It also extends to his role as chairman of Alibaba. He recently told a Paris tech conference about the role Alibaba’s cloud and AI businesses play on sports biggest stage. The company has been the International Olympic Committee’s cloud technology provider for the past three Olympic cycles, including the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Rather than using satellites to move video of the competition, which the Olympics has used since 1964, it now uses Alibaba’s cloud technology. In addition, Alibaba used its AI technology to generate multi-angle views of action scenes with far fewer cameras than traditional methods. Here too evidence of a prestige investment. Tsai attended the Olympics and dined with French President Emmanuel Macron.

As Szymanski says, owners like Tsai gain benefit from a lot of aspects of political and economic life, subsidies, tax breaks, public investments but for the most part, that’s lost on fans who want one thing out of their team loyalty: championships, their own personal prestige play. The economic health of the owners is not a priority other than how it can get them wins and that elusive ticker tape parade.

So far, the Liberty have delivered and a big part of that title was due to the Clara Wu Tsai spending their money — a lot of it by WNBA standards — on player contracts, player amenities, fan amenities too. And now, there’s that new practice facility in Greenpoint which opens in 2027. The Nets not so much. They are mired in a rebuild and a fan hangover from the binge and bust of the Big Three era that Joe Tsai presided over.

At this point, fans can only hope the Liberty success, fueled by the Tsai family money, will be replicated with the Nets. It won’t be for lack of trying.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/28...to-netsdaily-about-his-rising-sports-fortunes

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NY Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx preview: Finals rematch!

Photo by Steven Garcia/Getty Images

The road trip continues, and tonight we have a Finals rematch in Minneapolis.

Photo by Steven Garcia/Getty Images

That was not the team’s finest hour. The New York Liberty got off to a truly horrendous start on Monday night against the Dallas Wings and never truly got all the way back in it as they lost 92-82.

The opponent tonight is someone we know really well. The Minnesota Lynx have bounced back from their WNBA Finals defeat and been the best team in the league thus far in 2025. They suffered their first home loss of the season after the Atlanta Dream held on to pull off the upset on Sunday night.

Where to watch the game​

ESPN is the place to be. Tip after 8 PM.

Injuries​

No Breanna Stewart or Nyara Sabally. Kennedy Burke was diagnosed with a low grade strain in her right calf and will be out at least two to four weeks. Earlier today, Natasha Cloud was downgraded to questionable as she is dealing with an illness. Tough, tough going right now for New York.

Alanna Smith left Sunday’s game with a lower leg injury. She’s not on the injury report. Karlie Samuelson is out for the season with a foot injury.

The game​

Cheryl Reeve is a hysterical individual

At the end of her practice media availability today, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was asked again about her thoughts on Belgian forward Emma Meesseman's commitment to the New York Liberty.

"She made the wrong choice," Reeve said.

The Lynx and Liberty play tomorrow at 7 p.m. pic.twitter.com/FN9uguEJYE

— Shelby Swanson (she/they) (@shelbymswanson) July 29, 2025​

Outstanding.

The Liberty went double bigs on Monday, and it did not go well at all. After halftime, they started Marine Johannès, and things started to turn around. After their team meeting on Monday night, it’ll be fascinating to see how they start this game off. The Liberty have recently had a bad habit of starting games off slowly and battling their way back into it. If they do that tonight, they’ll find themselves down double digits early and the Lynx are not a team that’s likely to give a big lead back.

If the Lynx don’t have an answer for Jonquel Jones, they won’t win. That was the story of last year’s Finals, and will be the story if these teams see each other in the playoffs again. JJ proved to be too much for Alanna Smith and the Lynx frontcourt last October and now that she’s back and finding her rhythm, look for the Liberty to feature her heavily throughout this one.

Guard play will be critical tonight. When Courtney Williams is at her best, she has the perfect blend of scoring and playmaking that can lift the offense. When she’s at her worst, the shot quality is questionable at best and actively harmful at worst. It helps that the Lynx have a great two guard in Kayla McBride that can take over games. For the Liberty, their two guard picked up another accolade. Sabrina Ionescu was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second straight week and Sab has really scaled up on offense. She started slow (who didn’t) on Monday but got into a bit of a groove after halftime. New York will need a big game out of her if they want to pull off the upset tonight. If Sab can get into the paint and force the issue, she’ll keep the Liberty within range of the Lynx. And if the game is close late, Minnesota fans know all too well what she can do...

Player to watch: Napheesa Collier​

Phee is dealing with a bit of a shoulder issue, but that certainly hasn’t slowed her down on the court. She leads the WNBA in scoring at 23 points a night on .531/.352/.922 shooting splits. When she gets the ball on the block, it’s practically automatic and two points on the board for Minnesota. Not to mention she’s an all-world defender and the perfect frontcourt partner to Alanna Smith in the middle.

I think it’s safe to assume Leonie Fiebich will slide up to the four position tonight. The Liberty are going to need a lot more from Leo if they want to hang in there while Stewart and Burke are out, but she’s up for the challenge. When she sits, Stephanie Talbot will get her fair share of minutes. Talbot might’ve been the only Liberty player that had a game worth remembering on Monday as she had her best performance in quite some time. New York is going to need that level of play every night when she steps on the court. It’s a big ask, but it’s something Sandy Brondello and the team is going to need in the worst way.

From the Vault​

Summerslam week rolls on, and today we’re gonna meet a legend from Minneapolis

And ones in the air for Ryne Sandberg

More reading: Canis Hoopus, Zone Coverage, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and The Next

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/30...napheesa-collier-leonie-fiebich-jonquel-jones

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Reports: Brooklyn Nets to open preseason vs. Hapoel Jerusalem

One of Israel’s top teams will travel to Barclays Center in early October.

According to reports circulating on the web Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets will play Hapoel Jerusalem of Israel in a preseason game at Barclays Center on October 4.

The reports are likely accurate, per a league source.

Basketball News Australia was first with the news...

An early season showdown across the ocean.

Hapoel Jerusalem will face the Brooklyn Nets — featuring Ben Sharaf and Danny Wolf — on October 4 in the US. #hapoeljerusalem #brooklynnets #preseasonhoops pic.twitter.com/ici68cQ3R3

— BASKETBALL NEWS AUSTRALIA (@AusBballnews) July 30, 2025​

It’s the second time in three years that the Nets have opened preseason vs. an Israeli team. In 2023, Brooklyn opened vs. Maccabi Ra’anana at Barclays.

The Nets of course drafted two players with Israeli passports back-to-back in June — Ben Saraf at No. 26 and Danny Wolf at No. 27 — but NBA preseason games are set up months in advance so it’s unlikely the draft selections had anything to do with the preseason schedule or vice-versa.

Still, with Saraf and Wolf having played for Israel’s national teams in the past, they will likely be a big focus of the game. Indeed, Nets podcasters report that since the Draft, up to five percent of their audience comes from Israel.

Also, it’s near certain that the game will attract protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has been described as a genocide by a widening range of national and world political leaders.

Historically, Hapoel Jerusalem has been one of the Israel’s top teams. They currently play in both Israel’s Winner League and the multi-nation Eurocup.

The Nets already have two preseason games scheduled, vs. the Phoenix Suns, on October 10 and 12 in Macao, part of NBA China for 2025.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/30...yn-nets-to-open-preseason-vs-hapoel-jerusalem

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Liberty play inspired game but fall short to the Minnesota Lynx

Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

The Liberty put forth a much better effort on Wednesday night, but MVPhee made sure the champs couldn’t pull off another magical comeback.

You can’t guarantee results, but you can guarantee effort. If you work hard and put your best foot forward, at least you can rest well knowing that you did your best. It may not be enough to get you where you want to go, but it’s a good start. And for the New York Liberty, effort was the name of the game this evening.

On Monday, the Liberty had their worst performance in years. They got down by as much as 30 points to the Dallas Wings and did not look like a playoff team, let alone a WNBA championship contender. In pregame tonight, Sandy Brondello acknowledged the team was a bit “complacent” against Dallas even though the coaching staff explained how good the Wings are. Against the Minnesota Lynx, the team was on full alert and eager to put Monday’s loss behind them.

Early on, Natasha Cloud set the tone. Tash was questionable for this game as she’s dealing with an illness, but that didn’t stop her from placing her imprint on the game early

Natasha Cloud gettin' to work EARLY

NYL-MIN | ESPN pic.twitter.com/T8pEiqD2rp

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 31, 2025​

As the game settled in, two themes emerged for the Liberty. One was the amount of missed layups they had. New York was able to get into the painted area for much of the night, but couldn’t capitalize like they normally do. The Libs lead the WNBA in shooting inside the restricted area at 69.2 percent, but only went 22/41 inside the paint tonight. A lot of that was due to the interior presence of Alanna Smith and Napheesa Collier, but

The other issue was rebounding. It’s been a bugaboo for New York this year, and the Lynx were able to take full advantage by collecting 11 offensive rebounds and scoring 20 second chance points.

“When you have 20 points off offensive rebounds,” Brondello said in postgame, “it’s a long night.”

Despite that, the Liberty hung around throughout the night. They were able to hang in thanks to the magnificent efforts of Sabrina Ionescu. Sab was able to consistently find her way into the painted area early and scored a game high 31 points on .550/.375/.750 shooting splits. She was cold from deep early, but she was able to dial it up from distance as the Liberty went on a nerve-wracking run in the fourth quarter

New York got a 15 point Lynx lead all the way down to four in the final minute, but the presumptive MVP favorite shut the door on another magical Liberty comeback.

Napheesa Collier has been sensational in just about every way possible this season. Whether its co-founding a successful league in Unrivaled, being one of the leaders of the Players Association, etc., she’s been the center of so much success in the sports landscape in 2025. And with her team fighting to hold off a Liberty upset, she got the ball in her hands and shut the door

Final score: Minnesota Lynx 100, New York Liberty 93

This is the Liberty’s first three game losing streak since July 2022. Even with the L, the team got back to playing the right way and can build on this going forward.

“That’s the standard,” Ionescu said in postgame. “That’s the standard we have to come out with every night. But with a million reasons why we could have come in here and gone through the motions and made excuses for ourselves, we didn’t. And I’m proud of each and every player that was out there tonight playing as hard as they could, doing whatever they could to get back to playing Liberty basketball.”

Help on the way?​

Photo by FIBA/FIBA via Getty Images

We talked about the recent acquisition of Emma Meesseman and what she’ll bring to the Liberty. We thought it would take some time before she suited up, but it turns out her debut might be a lot sooner than we think.

On Wednesday, Rachel Galligan of Winsidr reported that Meesseman arrived in New York City to undergo physical examinations in advance of her debut with the team

Emma Meesseman arrived in New York this afternoon multiple sources tell @Winsidr pic.twitter.com/1B0DRlYYAG

— Rachel Galligan (@RachGall) July 30, 2025​

Per Madeline Kenney of the New York Post, Meesseman could join the team as soon as this weekend and potentially make her WNBA return. She gives the team plenty of scoring, distribution in the high post, rim protection, and perhaps most importantly, another player who can play big minutes while the team tries to get back to full strength. We’re in the dog days of the season, and the team is going to need all the help it can get.

Next up​

Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Liberty come back to the East Coast for a weekend trip to Uncasville. They begin the first of two against the Connecticut Sun on Friday night. Tip off after 7:30 p.m. ET.

• Boxscore: Minnesota Lynx 100, New York Liberty 93 - WNBA
• Game Highlights: Minnesota Lynx 100, New York Liberty 93 - WNBA
• Collier scores 30, McBride 24 as Lynx beat Liberty 100-93 in Finals rematch - AP
• Shorthanded Liberty fall to Lynx in WNBA Finals rematch as losing streak hits three - Madeline Kenney - New York Post
• Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu returns to spot of last year’s WNBA Finals heroics - Madeline Kenney - New York Post
• Napheesa Collier, Lynx take down shorthanded Liberty in WNBA Finals rematch - Fiifi Frimpong - New York Daily News

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/31...x-wnba-recap-napheesa-collier-sabrina-ionescu

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Nothing new on Cam Thomas. No surprise

Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images

It’s likely to be a long-haul.

Signs, signs, everywhere, signs? Nah.

It doesn’t matter which tee Cam Thomas is wearing while working out ... at which gym in which borough. Nope, doesn’t matter which (limited) Brooklyn Nets material he deleted from which social media or what cryptic message he’s trying to send with new posts. Nor does it matter that pundits are in agreement that of the four big restricted free agents, Thomas is the most likely to exercise his qualifying offer and play one year for $5.99 million, then become a restricted free agent.

This morning, there was an even a poll in the New York Times/The Athletic on what’s a fair package for Thomas.

People in this poll were more willing to give Thomas a higher average annual value ($16.7 million for Thomas compared to $14.7 million for Grimes), but they were more comfortable handing Grimes total money ($47.7 million guaranteed for Grimes compared to $42.7 million guaranteed for Thomas).

Those are all negotiating ploys or speculation. Cam Thomas has not exercised his QO and thus, hope remains for a resolution maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. Indeed, Thomas public appearances and comments are far more likely to be part of the “discussion” between player and team than examples of any growing distance. They are subtle but public moves to strengthen his case among the fanbase ... or at least the most vocal. He may be polarizing but his fanbase is mobilizing.

We’ve had word, from Jake Fischer, that the two sides haven’t “significantly engaged” and that the Nets standing offer is somewhere around two years, $28 million with the second year a team option, basically a larger version of what the Nets have agreed to pay Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams (two years, $12 million with a team option in year 2.) No doubt there will be more discussions. Alex Saratsis, his new agent, is experienced and respected. He represents Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brothers, for example.

As both Brian Lewis and Yossi Gozlan have written in the last two days, Sean Marks still has a lot of cap space and a lot of flexibility to work through. There will be more salary dumps to examine, guarantees to decide, roster spots to fill, Exhibit 10s to sign.

There is a finely choreographed, CBA-directed dance that teams follow in sequencing transactions to take full advantage of the CBA. The reality is that that last act is likely to be signing restricted free agencts because teams can sign their own free agents outside the cap using Bird Rights ... but only after they have used up their cap space. So, they keep their dance card as clean as possible, ready to accept invitations. At this point, the Nets remain under the salary cap floor by about $17 million.

Gozlan who writes for capsheets.org and pods on The Third Apron hinted this week that the Nets could be interested in helping the Celtics avoid $70.7 million in taxes by taking Anfernee Simons and his $27.7 million expiring deal into their cap space ... and receiving some draft asset in return.

The Celtics are reportedly looking to reroute Anfernee Simons to save more money. They would get under the luxury tax line and eliminate their $70.75 million projected tax penalty by trading him into the Nets’ cap space. It would be more difficult to reduce $17.6 million, the amount they are above the tax line, during the season when the Nets have less cap space.

No, there’s not a chance the Celtics who will be tanking this season are giving up their 2026 first. They do have a 2027 first and at this point Brooklyn does not hold clear title to their own pick but they do have the Knicks pick and could wind up with the Sixers pick too. Would Brooklyn want another first rounder in what looks like a weak draft? We are already too deep in the weeds but the point stands: trade season isn’t over.

It is hard to imagine the Nets and Celtics having not spoken at one point or another. And with some cap manipulation, Marks could take on Simons in a trade and sign Thomas. Whether that would be efficient or make either guard happy is another matter.

Gozlan and Lewis also note the possibility of salary dump involving R.J. Barrett who has $56 million and two years left on his deal. Simons averaged 19.3 points and Barrett 21.1, with Simons missing 12 games and Barrett 24.

As noted, there isn’t necessarily a rush to get all those matters out of the way. The Nets can exhaust their cap space then use Bird Rights to sign Thomas and Thomas doesn’t have to decide on exercising his QO until October 1 ... and then it can be extended through March 1.

The Nets have surprised us and the pundits and draftniks this summer. They not only decided to use all their first rounders; they added one the night before the Draft and took five players instead of four. Their first lottery pick in 15 years was someone seen as a reach. They traded Cam Johnson not for two first rounders, but for one future first and a 27-year-old capable of averaging 20 points a game.

So maybe they could surprise and move on Cam Thomas soon. That CBA dance is going to take precedence. “[The sides are] in no hurry, likely like all the restricted free agents right now,” one league executive told Lewis.

The Cam Stans would like to see things resolved quickly, using social media to demand he be signed and offering comparisons with other deals with other players. Even in China, the Nets Zone on Hupu.com, the big sports blog, is filled with pro-Cam commentary. It would seem unlikely.

• How the Nets and Cam Thomas can find their middle ground ($) - Brian Lewis - New York Post

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/7/30/24477334/nothing-new-on-cam-thomas-no-surprise

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NY Liberty vs. Connecticut Sun: Liberty look to get back on track

Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Liberty head to Uncasville for a weekend series with the Connecticut Sun.

Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Better, but not enough to reach the finish line. The New York Liberty gave the Minnesota Lynx all they could handle on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t enough to help them pull off the upset. The L was New York’s third in a row.

The opponent tonight is figuring things out. The Connecticut Sun are in rebuild mode and hope to figure out what the future holds. They’ve been off since Monday night after losing to the Seattle Storm at home.

Where to follow the game​

No Breanna Stewart, Nyara Sabally, or Kennedy Burke.

All clear for the Sun.

The game​

The Liberty won the first meeting in June.

The thing about WNBA rosters is they’re woefully short considering all the talent that’s available. It leaves teams in an unfortunate because someone good has to get cut even if you don’t want to. And unfortunately for the Liberty and Liberty fans, that someone was Jaylyn Sherrod. Jaylyn hinted to that possibility on social media on Wednesday night, and the team announced that reality this morning

Once a Liberty, always a Liberty. pic.twitter.com/iLnXgDyKqB

— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 1, 2025​

Sherrod played hard in her two seasons in New York and will always be immortalized as a WNBA champion. She can walk away with her head held high.

That move means the Liberty have officially brought Emma Meesseman in. When we last saw Big Meesse, she was balling out for the Belgian National Team during the 2024 Olympics. She’s with the team in Uncasville and will make her return to the WNBA on Sunday afternoon. With Stewart out, chances are she starts at power forward, but we’ll see how the story unfolds from here.

Sabrina Ionescu has been making a tremendous All-WNBA first team case. Sab scored 30 points against the Lynx and was able to consistently break the defense down and get to the rim. When Sab is able to score from all three levels, she takes her game to even higher heights and presents matchup nightmares for opponents.

With defenses putting so much attention on Ionescu, it’ll open things up for Marine Johannès. If you’ve heard the Liberty say it once, you’ve heard them say it a thousand times: “Let Marine be Marine.” When Jojo is dialed in and in a rhythm, she’s hell on wheels and can get a shot up any time. With Leonie Fiebich dealing with (and playing through) a hand injury, this is a perfect time for MJ to try and do a little more on that end.

We’ll get a chance to watch one of the coolest rookies in the league this season. Saniya Rivers’ pro debut was delayed due to the sudden passing of her mom after the Draft, but she’s been electric since making her debut. She’s active in the passing lanes and has a lightning quick first step going to the rim. Her pro career is off to a good start and as she continues to get reps, her star will shine even brighter.

Tina Charles has been such a steadying force for Connecticut. The future Hall of Famer leads the team in scoring and rebounding this season. Most importantly, she’s been a great mentor for young frontcourt players like Aneesah Morrow and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. As she does that, she’ll draw the matchup against Jonquel Jones tonight. JJ didn’t get a chance to fully impact the game on Wednesday as the Lynx crowded her space and made getting the ball to her on the inside a daunting challenge for the Liberty. With Stewart out indefinitely, the team will need some more from Jones and it’s up to the team to find ways to get her the ball in the best position.

Player to watch: Marina Mabrey​

Funny how things change. Earlier this year, Marina Mabrey was looking for the first train out of Uncasville, but the Sun told her no. Since then, she’s been a steadying vet presence for this young Sun team and could have had an All-Star appearance if she didn’t get injured. With the trade deadline right around the corner, Mabrey is someone we might need to keep an eye on to see if she’ll be joining a contender. If she does leave Connecticut, her new team will get a player that can lead an offense, provide some scoring punch, and...

Why is Marina like this! ! She hit them with the milli rock in the middle of a massive collective crash out pic.twitter.com/eA9B8m8nr0

— Anna The Ivorian (@annatheivorian) June 18, 2025​

You need somebody like that on your squad!

Natasha Cloud is not on the injury report, so hopefully that illness she was dealing with on Wednesday has passed. Even at less than full strength, Tash kept the Liberty’s tempo up and pushed downhill. The team needs that if they want to be their best selves on offense. Cloud has also shown an ability to do more on offense and if she’s forcing the issue, she can create plenty of free throw opportunities against a team that has been especially foul prone.

From the Vault​

It’s Summerslam weekend!

More reading: CT Insider, Swish Appeal, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and The Next

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/1/...w-marina-mabrey-natasha-cloud-sabrina-ionescu

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

A season high in turnovers and season low in points doom Liberty to 4th straight loss

Photo by Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images

Sometimes, headlines don’t tell the whole story. This time, they do.

Photo by Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images

You shouldn’t take things for granted. When it comes to accomplishing a goal, you have to put your best foot forward and treat the task with the seriousness it deserves. If you don’t, you’re setting yourself up for trouble. We thought the New York Liberty learned this lesson. Turns out it didn’t stick to memory.

During Wednesday’s pregame, Sandy Brondello mentioned that the team was a bit “complacent” against the Dallas Wings on Monday night even though they were specifically warned not to take them lightly. The Liberty didn’t heed that warning and fell behind by as much as 30 points before they bothered to show up after halftime. They entered this weekend series against the league’s worst team hoping to get back on track. The Connecticut Sun have been the worst defense in the WNBA this season and are in a full on rebuild mode. You never would’ve known if you just watched them tonight.

The Liberty actually got off to a darn good start. They took an early 14-5 lead and were hitting all the right notes

AND for @sabrina_i20 to get us started in CT pic.twitter.com/obs2aprx59

— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 1, 2025​

Unfortunately for the Liberty, they started to let the Sun back into the game. Connecticut got the lead down to five after one and then turned on the jets from there. French rookie Leïla Lacan started to percolate and break the Liberty defense down

“We took our foot off the gas just a little bit and it gave them confidence,” Jonquel Jones acknowledged after the game. “They started blowing up a lot of our actions, especially trying to get the ball in the dribble hand off actions. They were really physical with us, and it kind of messed up our timing and got us on our back foot a little bit. I think it could help them to kind of turn the game around.”

The tape proved Jones’ assessment correct as the Liberty turned it over a season high 23 times and we saw the Sun consistently make things hard on the Liberty

It also didn’t help that the Liberty could not get rebounds. The Sun outrebounded New York 42-29 and there were too many moments where Connecticut just out worked New York on the glass

Jones had to do a lot of work on the perimeter and that kept her away from the glass as she acknowledged in postgame. With that in mind, that meant everybody else needed to pick up the slack. They did not. Marina Mabrey grabbed a season high ten rebounds and Aneesah Morrow grabbed a season high six offensive rebounds.

Sabrina Ionescu did her best to keep the team in it as her 23/7/5/2 kept the Liberty in it, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome all of their mistakes and deficiencies. What do you get when you have a season low in points, second lowest rebound total, and season high in turnovers? The worst loss of the season.

Final score: Connecticut Sun 78, New York Liberty 62

The loss was their fourth in a row and second this week to a team they honestly had no business losing to. Naturally, when you lose a game like this you question the effort of the team. I certainly did. Sabrina Ionescu would disagree with my assertion

Sabrina Ionescu defended the team's effort tonight: "I don't think we did revert back to what we did in Dallas. This was Liberty basketball. The score might not depict it, but how locked in we were, the energy, the effort [was there]." (Q: @madkenney)

— Myles (@MylesEhrlich) August 2, 2025​

Be that as it may, this week has been disastrous for the Liberty. They’ve been outplayed, cost themselves winnable games against non-playoff teams, and just have not done the work needed to be a good rebounding team.

When you’re a championship team, you’re rightfully held to higher standards. And when you face a team that has struggled all season long on defense, it’s more than fair to expect better than 33.9 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent from three point range. Even without three key players, the Liberty have more than enough talent on the roster to be competitive most nights. They should not be 12th in the league in rebounding after being top two in each of the past two seasons. The Liberty have a lot to work on right now and if they continue to give games away, they will fall short of their stated goal of being a top two seed.

The team is running on fumes and could use a bolt of energy to get them back on the right track. Lucky for them, that bolt of energy has arrived...

Help is on the way​

Photo by FIBA/FIBA via Getty Images

Emma Meesseman officially signed this morning and made the trip up to Uncasville to join her new teammates. The Liberty made the official announcement in style

View this post on Instagram​

A post shared by New York Liberty (@nyliberty)​

At shootaround on Friday morning, she explained why she decided to return to the WNBA after two and a half seasons away:

“It changed. I wanted to try it again and see with all these fans following the new players, new young players. I love basketball, so I was trying to play as much as I can.”

Our very own Lucas Kaplan broke down Meesseman’s fit in a great story on the site last week. Meesseman goes from a luxury on the Liberty to an absolute necessity. The team needs some help, and she’s here to help get them back on the right track.

Next up​

Photo by Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images

We’ll do it again on Sunday. Tip off after 1:00 p.m ET.

• Boxscore: Connecticut Sun 78, New York Liberty 62 - WNBA
• Game Highlights: Connecticut Sun 78, New York Liberty 62 - WNBA
• Liberty suffer inexcusable loss to WNBA-worst Sun for fourth straight defeat - Madeline Kenney - New York Post

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/2/...ap-sabrina-ionescu-leila-lacan-emma-meesseman

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Brooklyn Nets signing Fanbo Zeng, one of China’s top young players

Photo by Deng Hua/Xinhua via Getty Images

Nets will have a Chinese player for Macao trip...

The Brooklyn Nets are adding one of China’s top young players, Fanbo Zeng, a 6’11” 22-year-old Beijing Ducks power forward, to their training camp roster.

Mike Scotto of Hoopshype was first with the news...

Just In: The Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a deal with Fanbo Zeng, one of the best prospects in the CBA, sources told @hoopshype. The 22-year-old, 6’10” forward averaged 14.7 points on 53% from the field and 41% from 3-point range, 4.6 boards and 1.6 blocks with the Beijing Ducks. pic.twitter.com/oI2tHxuBlo

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) August 3, 2025​

Scotto’s initial tweet did not indicate whether Zeng had signed an Exhibit 10 training camp invite but it appears that it to be a camp invite. It was the second Nets signing reported in the past 36 hours. On Friday, Shams Charania reported that Brooklyn was signing Ricky Council IV, a 6’6” wing, to a partially guaranteed deal.

The signing will bring to 21 the number of players, the max who can enter training camp, currently under contract, but of the 21, only 10 have fully guaranteed deals at the moment although two restricted free agents, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams have reportedly agreed to two year contracts. Five others, including Council have standard but non-guaranteed deals. Cam Thomas situation remains unresolved.

Zeng, who was born in Harbin in China’s far north but spent much of his youth in the U.S., first as a four-star recruit at a Florida high school, then with G League Ignite before returning to China two years ago.

Here’s some recent Chinese Basketball Association highlights:

He averaged 14.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 blocks in 42 games last season for the Beijing Ducks in the CBA, shooting 57/41/80 overall. He is known his China for his rim-running and shot blocking as well as his 3-point shooting.

Zeng hurt his back at the end of April, falling during a CBA game. In July, it was announced he was passing on next month’s FIBA Asia Games ...

Chinese basketball prospect Zeng Fanbo will miss the upcoming Asia Cup after Team China determined he has not yet recovered sufficiently to compete. The 22-year-old suffered a hard fall during the CBA Playoffs in April and was later diagnosed with a fractured lower vertebra. pic.twitter.com/Jt5ZY5mGaM

— Sports China (@PDChinaSports) July 22, 2025​

China basketball watchers note that the injury — officially a lumbar transverse process fracture — is not considered serious despite its ominous sounding name. It normally takes two to three months to recover.

China is pushing its best to join NBA clubs, hoping the experience will help them develop. Both Hansen Yang, surprisingly taken at No. 16 in June, and Zeng passed on playing for Team China in FIBA Asia Cup which starts this weekend to join NBA teams … with Chinese federation’s blessing.

Brooklyn will open its training camp the last week of September, then then fly to Hong Kong for NBA China Games which will be played in nearby Macao on October 10 and 12.

In June, Zeng appeared at the CBA Finals in Beijing with D’Angelo Russell, then on a tour of Chinese cities. Both are spokespersons for Li-Ning sneakers. Zeng was wearing a back support then.

Zeng hired U.S. agents three months ago in hopes of continuing his NBA career which previously included a stint with G League Ignite in 2021-22 and five games with the Indiana Pacers Summer League in 2022. He will likely be a big part of the Nets preseason trip to Macao in early October when they’ll play two exhibition games vs. the Phoenix Suns at the 14,000-seat Venetian Resort.

Zeng played three years in the U.S. in , earning first team All-State honors in Florida but COVID intervened and he was unable to return for his final season. Still, in November 2020, he committed to Gonzaga as a four-star recruit but just before he was to arrive in Spokane Zeng decommitted and instead in October 2021, signed with the G League Ignite of the G League where he averaged 5.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13 games, shooting 40 percent from the field as an 18-year-old. More highlights:

In June 2022, after going undrafted, Fanbo Zeng signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Pacers but was waived after averaging 5.0 points and one rebound in Summer League but again hitting 40% of his threes. He then returned to China and the Beijing Ducks. He’s said that since his G League gig, he’s grown two inches.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/2/...ng-fanbo-zeng-one-of-chinas-top-young-players

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NY Liberty vs. Connecticut Sun preview: Welcome to the Liberty, Emma Meesseman!

Photo by Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images

The NY Liberty welcome Emma Meesseman into the lineup as they try to snap a four game losing streak.

Photo by Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images

Oof. The New York Liberty landed in Uncasville hoping to get back in the winner’s circle. Unfortunately for them, their struggles as the Sun took control of the final three quarters and cruised to a 16 point victory. The loss was New York’s fourth in a row and they’re desperately looking for a way out of their rut.

Where to follow the game​

My9 on TV. Liberty Live and FOX Local on streaming. League Pass for the rest of y’all. Tip after 1:00 p.m. ET.

Injuries​

No Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke, or Nyara Sabally.

All clear for the Sun.

The game​

The Liberty won the first game and the Sun took the second. These teams wrap the season series up on August 25.

The Connecticut Sun might be on the move. On Saturday, the Boston Globe broke the news that the Sun have been sold to a group led in part by Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca. With a sale like that, you’d think it would be a layup that the team is on its way to Boston, right? Not so fast! The WNBA league office threw cold water on that idea right after the sale was announced. This story is far from over and we’ll have plenty more on this big news. Also, do remember

$325 million for the Connecticut Sun and $100 million for a practice facility in Boston. Don't let the wnba league office (and the nba) tell you there isn't money to pay the players. https://t.co/IC8TqZ6ByO

— busy (@busyxb) August 2, 2025​

Speaking of big news, welcome to the Liberty, Emma Meesseman! Emma joins at an especially critical time for the Liberty. With Stewart out, the Libs are without their superstar and defensive dynamo. Meesseman will likely start at the 4 and she will help their interior scoring, create scoring opportunities out of the high post with her passing, and more importantly give them another elite player that can carry the offense and allow everyone to move down a role. When she first signed, we thought her signing would be a luxury. Turns out, it’s an absolute necessity.

No rebounds, no rings. If the Liberty can’t do better on the glass, they’re not going to accomplish the goals they set out to. Players have talked before about sometimes counting on Jonquel Jones to do all the work on the glass. But when she’s out on the perimeter like she was on Friday night, it’s up to everyone else to pick up the slack. With players like Aneesah Morrow and Tina Charles on the other side, it’s going to take a team effort to bring this home.

Player to watch: Leïla Lacan​

France has delivered so many great talents across the WNBA. Gabby Williams, Marine Johannès, Dominique Malonga, the list goes on. We can add Lacan to the list. Lacan was taken tenth overall last season in the Draft. She had French National Team obligations that kept her away for the Olympics last year, but she’s here and ready to roll. In nine games, she’s averaging around nine points, three rebounds, and three assists in close to 24 minutes a night. Her three point shooting isn’t there, but as Emily Adler of The Next wrote:

[W]e had pre-draft concerns about whether she could be a good shooter, but after hitting 31.3% from deep over the past three seasons in the French league, she’ll almost certainly be better than this. But the defensive versatility we saw has certainly showed up, and her ability to get to the rim and finish has been excellent. Things are still plenty rough for the Sun, but the backcourt core is one of the better young groups in the league.

Gotta start somewhere, and the Sun might have the makings of a solid foundation to build on.

Marine Johannès has started the last two games, and she's done well in her pinch hitting role. Presumably, she’ll slide down to the bench and be the lead guard on the second unit. She went 0-4 from the field on Friday, and they’ll need better from her today. She’s someone that French players look up to, and after the game she and Lacan shared a nice moment...

Leila sait qu'elle aime bien les ballons.
Ah ces jeunes, ça trolle tata Jojo. pic.twitter.com/pWUSxwQ6mJ

— Out of context Marine Johannès (@MJohannesOOC) August 2, 2025​

Johannès is a French basketball icon and helped pave the way for the next generation of French hoopers.

From the Vault​

It’s Summerslam Sunday and NetsDaily will be in the house!

More reading: CT Insider, Swish Appeal, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and The Next

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/3/...man-leila-lacan-marine-johannes-jonquel-jones

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NetsDaily Off-Season Report - No 15

Every weekend, we’ll be updating the Nets’ off-season with bits and pieces of information, gossip, etc. to help fans get ready for ... whatever

Busy weekend ... so far. In the space of 36 hours, Shams Charania and Mike Scotto reported two Brooklyn Nets signings: Ricky Council IV, the 23-year-old 6’6” wing to a partially guaranteed deal (Shams) and Fanbo Zeng, the 22-year-old 6’11” power forward to an Exhibit 10 training camp invite (Scotto.)

That brings to 21 the number of Nets players under some sort of contract, yes, including Cam Thomas whose future may be unresolved, but who’s still a Nets’ restricted free agent. Twenty-one, of course, is the limit for NBA training camps. That said, Sean Marks & co. still have a lot of flexibility in terms of cap space — a minimum of around $20 million — and roster spots with half of those 21 spots non-guaranteed in some way or another.

Here’s the latest roster math, as of Sunday, noting that the weekend signings are not yet official and NBA teams don’t have to get down to 21 until the opening of training camp, the last week of September...

GUARANTEED STANDARD NBA CONTRACTS (10):

• Terance Mann, 28
• Michael Porter Jr., 27
• Nic Claxton, 26
• Noah Clowney, 21
• Dariq Whitehead, 21
• Egor Demin, 19
• Nolan Traore, 19
• Drake Powell, 19
• Ben Saraf, 19
• Danny Wolf, 21

NON-GUARANTEED NBA CONTRACTS (5)

• Keon Johnson, 23
• Jalen Wilson, 25
• Tyrese Martin, 26
• Drew Timme, 25
• Ricky Council, 23

Johnson and Wilson are partially guaranteed. They’ll receive $271,000 (Johnson) and $88,000 (Wilson) if cut. Those amounts would become so-called “dead money,” added to the cap. The Nets already had $100,000 in dead money after they failed to extend Maxwell Lewis.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (3)

• Cam Thomas, 23
• Day’Ron Sharpe, 23
• Ziaire Williams, 23

Sharpe and Williams have reportedly agreed to identical, two-year $12.0 million deals with the second year a team option. The only Thomas situation remains unresolved.

NON-GUARANTEED TWO-WAYS (2)

• Tosan Evbuomwan, 24
• Tyson Etienne, 26

Two-ways are non-guaranteed and their salaries do not count against the cap.

EXHIBIT 10 (1)

• Fanbo Zeng, 22.

An Exhibit 10 gives the Nets flexibility in retaining Fanbo. Even if waived, his G League rights are automatically transferred to Long Island.

Eight questions that remain​

Beyond the roster math, here’s eight questions still left unanswered:

1. There have been reports that the Nets have interest in big men Tyrese Samuel and Grant Nelson, both of whom played for them in the Summer League. Are they still on the radar, after the signing of big man Fanbo Zeng?
2. Will the five non- and partially guaranteed deals competing for a finite number of roster spots? What’s that number? Would any of them agree to accept the open two-way spot?
3. Is that third two-way reserved for someone or just a possibility being dangled in front of those with non-guaranteed deals? How safe are Evbuomwan and Etienne? Deals are not guaranteed.
4. How closely are the Nets watching the waiver wire? The agreement with Ricky Council IV was unexpected and apparently came only three days after he cleared waivers following Philly’s decision to cut him.
5. More than one pundit has suggested the Nets are “active” in the trade market? For whom? With what assets?
6. Is there a veteran there they have their eye on? Possibly a point guard?
7. Can they get to that CBA salary floor and how? They could get a lot closer with a big deal and it’s hard to imagine they’ll accept the sanctions associated with being under. They have until October 21.
8. Finally, the big one: what’s going on with Cam Thomas and do the weekend signings clear the air a bit for that to be resolved? Doubtful.

Long Island increasingly a big deal for Brooklyn​

Back at the Nets’ post-draft press conference on July 1, our Brian Fleurantin asked Sean Marks about his plans for the Long Island Nets this season, noting that the Nets had drafted five first rounders, a historic gamble. Marks’ GM counterparts and draftniks had (and still have) questions about developing that many firsts ... as well as a number of other younger players.

Marks was somewhat vague about how many of his players will wind up playing at Nassau Coliseum when Long Island opens it season on November 7.

“I assume some of these guys will definitely spend some time in Long Island” he said in answer to a question about the draft picks. “We’ll have to see how the season sort of plays out and what minutes are there for everybody, but as the same time, as Jordi mentioned, it’s an environment of competitive nature out here. So that’s what we want to see. These guys go compete. There’s no promises given to anybody, let alone the draft picks or all of the guys we currently have on our roster. Go compete and may the best man win.”

As noted above, the Nets roster currently is very young. There’s a very good chance that when the season opens on October 22 that it could be the youngest in NBA history. Currently, that’s the 2022-23 Houston Rockets whose average age with 22.69 years. Eleven Nets are 23 or younger. No Net is older than 28 (Terance Mann.)

Long Island does have a good development record. More than half the current roster has spent time in the G League proving ground. Nic Claxton, Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, Dariq Whitehead, Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson, Keon Johnson, Drew Timme, Tosan Evbuomwan, Tyson Etienner and Tyrese Martin (although Martin was only there for Media Day, spending all of his two-way playing time in Brooklyn.) In addition, Ziaire Williams (Memphis Hustle) and Ricky Council IV (Delaware Blue Coats) had productive gigs on G League clubs.

Some were there on two-way contracts, some on assignment during their rookie contracts, some on Exhibit 10s and that mix is likely now. Some even moved from one category to another. In each case, as Marks said in July, players may be listed on two teams but will deal with the same system, the same schemes, the same nomenclature. Go for the win, yes, but development is the priority: physical, mental, emotional.

“Long Island, they are exactly the same as the Brooklyn Nets,” Marks said. “Maybe in a different infrastructure and a little bit further away, but we wanna make sure whenever our players from Brooklyn spend time in Long Island, there’s nothing amiss.”

The Nets also have had continuity in their key personnel. Matt MacDonald, the GM, Mfon Udofia, the head coach and Shawn Swords, the associate head coach are all been around for a while. MacDonald has been with the Nets organization, both Brooklyn and Long Island, since 2019. This is Udofia’s third season as head coach in Uniondale. Same with Swords and Development Director Steven Kaner.

This year of course will be a different challenge. Players will be jumping back and forth between Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum more than ever (although probably not as much as Chris McCullough did back in 2016-17 when he shuttled back and forth 21 times, as we recall.)

“Player development is going to be important. We’ve been very diligent. The coaching staff has done a great job making our guys work, and those guys have improved, and we believe they’ll do the same thing,” Fernandez said of his team’s G League grads.

Might we expect an ungrade? more staff? Would make sense.

Also, expect the marketing and ticketing side of Long Island to push the development angle to reach its goal of 3,000 fans a game. “See the future!” etc. Long Island had some success last season with attendance and Morgan Taylor who runs the business side has said the team would like to up that next season. Having some “name” players even if 19 years old could help.

Performance team changes?​

As we noted earlier in the off-season, Ben Williams, the Nets director of high performance, left Brooklyn and returned home to his native Britain where he’ll take a new, expanded job with the Queens Park Rangers, where he had been working prior to his hire by the Nets. Williams was in charge of “overseeing all aspects of the Nets’ performance team.” according to a Nets announcement of his hire in September 2024.

Since then, we’ve learned (from her Instagram account) that Stefania Rizzo, the team’s long-time director of rehabilitation therapy, has also left. Rizzo hasn’t disclosed her next gig but she is president of the National Basketball Physical Therapy Association (NBPTA) which she founded last year. Rizzo is widely respected around the league and was a big part of Kevin Durant’s achilles rehab for which he has expressed his personal gratitude on departure (which is more than he did for the fans.) “Bad loss,” said one league source. “She’s amazing.”

The Nets haven’t announced who will be replacing the two of them but word around the league is that Dan Meehan, who’s been with Brooklyn for nine years in a variety of roles most recently the assistant director of high performance, will succeed Williams. He was seen with Marks in May scouting draft prospects, an indication of the trust between the two.

As for the rehab director, word in Australia is that Brenton Egglestone, Head Physiotherapist at the North Melbourne Football Club, will be moving to New York at the beginning of September ... yet another Aussie to join the Melbourne Mafia. Like a number of “physios” around the NBA, he’s a product of the vaunted Australian system and his North Melbourne Kangaroos have been among the leaders in keeping athletes healthy.

That has not been the case for the Nets of late. Last season, they set a franchise record for most games missed to injury/illness (374) according to InStreetClothes which tracks injuries. They also tied a franchise record for most players under contract in a single season (27).

The Nets are generally seen as an NBA leader in performance training and rehab, having the best resources in the NBA at HSS Training Center. But they’ve also had a high turnover at the top. Williams is the third high level performance team executive to leave Brooklyn in the last four years.

The Nets did not respond to a request for information on the changes. They annually update training staff in one big announcement closer to the start of training camp. Last year, they announced new strength and conditioning coach, head trainer, dietician in addition to Williams as director of high performance.

Brooklyn Basketball​

We’ve haven’t wandered around the periphery of Barclays Center in a while but we assume construction is underway at the shuttered Modell’s store, opposite Barclays. It will be the new home of Brooklyn Basketball, the Nets and Liberty’s youth basketball program. After all, it’s scheduled to open in the fall...

View this post on Instagram​

A post shared by Brooklyn Basketball (@brooklynbasketball)​

The 18,600-square foot training facility, whose cost has not been revealed, will include two full courts and a half court as well as a “‘shooting lab’ half court, auxiliary baskets, multi-purpose court flooring for other events, “cutting-edge technology and expert coaching,” per the release announcing the facility back in June.

Also, it will “complement” BSE Global’s existing free community training program which operates in conjunction with the New York City Department of Education, the release noted. That initiative has integrated basketball training into gym classes in 200 schools as well as community clinics that have reached 40,000 city school children. The training center will offer after-school and weekend training, camps, daily clinics, advanced training, even international program not further defined.

In the meantime, as it ramps up the center, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment is using both the Barclays Center main court and practice court to run clinics, muck to the delight of the kids who participate. Bernard King, the former Nets now a team ambassador was on the main court last month running a clinic. He noted the 40 youths, ages 8-14, on hand had a double surprise.

Meanwhile, on the practice court where the Liberty will run their plays, Brooklyn Basketball ran a clinic this past week for 40 girls between 6 and 14. They even ran a simulated Media Day for the girls...

“It’s an opportunity for the girls to pose with the basketball and have a little bit of fun. To sort of pretend that they are the star for the day. I think those are memories that will last forever,” said Marissa Shorenstein, the chief external media officer for BSE told PIX News.

Talking to Cam about his game​

Nothing new on the Cam Thomas front. The standoff is, as we’ve noted before, likely to wait till everything else gets done. The Nets can always sign Thomas to a contract outside the salary cap so it’s efficient at least financially to be patient and wait.

But rummaging through our files, we found something of note as fans debate how much of a priority is a Cam signing and at what price level: Cam Thomas talking about his game with our Lucas Kaplan during the season, the two of them sitting in front of a screen talking hoops.

A different look at the Nets 23-year-old shooter.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/3/24478946/netsdaily-off-season-report-no-15

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

NY Liberty vs. Dallas Wings preview: A Tuesday night showdown at Barclays Center

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The Liberty are back home after a terrible road trip. It won’t be for long as they host the Dallas Wings before getting back on the road.

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

A win that was needed in the absolute worst way. The New York Liberty entered Sunday’s game against the Connecticut Sun riding a four game losing streak and feeling pretty exhausted. They fought through the fatigue and ended their trip on a happy note with an 87-78 victory.

The opponent tonight is figuring things out. The Dallas Wings are trying to figure things out, and they’ve had a rough go of it. They lost to the Indiana Fever 88-78 on Friday night and have been off for the past few days.

Where to follow the game​

FOX 5 on TV. Liberty Live and FOX Local on streaming. NBATV and League Pass for the out of towners. Tip after 7 PM on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.

Injuries​

No Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke, or Nyara Sabally.

Ty Harris is out for the season. Maddy Siegrist missed Friday’s game due to a knee injury. No word on her status at this time. Myisha Hines-Allen left Friday’s game with an ankle injury. No word on her status either.

The game​

Dallas won the first meeting.

The Wings decided to shake things up on Sunday morning. They traded Dijonai Carrington to the Minnesota Lynx for Diamond Miller, Karlie Samuelson, and a 2027 draft pick. For Dallas, they continue their youth movement and make the most out of what’s been a rough season.

Emma Meesseman has taken to the Liberty perfectly. Big Meesse scored all 11 of her points after halftime and played a smidge above her expected minutes total of 15. As she continues to get acclimated with her team, we’ll see her minutes total increase. The Liberty don’t have many practice days for her to fully get comfortable, so everyone’s gonna have to learn on the fly here.

It’s always a surprise when you bench a star late. Even more surprising when you bench them for an entire fourth quarter. Wings coach Chris Koclanes explained that he left Arike Ogunbowale on the bench Friday night as he felt the five on the court had momentum and got the team back into the game. Be that as it may, it’s a tough thing to leave your star on the bench like that late. If this game is close coming down the stretch, will he do it again? We’ll see.

In the meantime, the Liberty will look to make things a lot harder on Arike. She picked up a career high 14 assists against the Liberty last week as she was able to consistently take advantage of poor New York defense and hit her teammates in perfect spots.

Because the Liberty are so shorthanded, Leonie Fiebich can’t afford to take a game off. But she could really use a game off. Leo shot under 40 percent for the fourth straight game on Sunday, and she’s looking pretty beat up. In postgame on Friday, Sandy Brondello acknowledged that Fiebich is a bit tired and playing through a hand injury. With Rebekah Gardner playing well in her spot minutes and with Steph Talbot and Marine Johannès in tow, I wonder if there’s an opportunity to sit her down for a game so she can completely rest up.

Player to watch: Paige Bueckers​

It’s been one heck of a rookie season for the UCONN legend. She missed some time due to a concussion, but she’s back and looking like an All-WNBA team candidate. PB is averaging a very good 18.5 points on .454/.341/.865 shooting splits in 34 minutes a night. With some new teammates coming in, we’ll see how she gets acclimated to their styles. Bueckers has been everything you could ask for as a number one pick and if she continues on this trajectory, the Wings will be competing for a playoff spot sooner than we know it.

Sabrina Ionescu has carried the Liberty since the All-Star break. Sab leads the WNBA in scoring at 25.6 points per game since the break on .504/.327/.917 shooting splits. Something I loved about her game on Sunday was how she consistently hunted shots in the midrange and painted area. Being a true three level scorer opens up so many possibilities and when she doesn’t settle, she becomes an even greater player. Sab is making a beeline for the All-WNBA first team, and it would be an incredibly well deserved honor.

From the Vault​

On Thursday, And Just Like That will be concluding its run. It’s always a good time to visit the ladies of Sex and the City, so that’s what we’re gonna do!

More reading: Mavs Moneyball, Words on Wings, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and The Next

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/4/...brina-ionescu-emma-meesseman-arike-ogunbowale

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Sabrina Ionescu scores 36, leads New York Liberty to much-needed win over Connecticut Sun, 87-78

Photo by Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images

The New York Liberty were riding a four-game losing streak until Sabrina Ionescu took matters into her own hands.

The New York Liberty entered Sunday’s rematch with the Connecticut Sun having dropped four straight. It’s an unprecedented cold-streak in their Superteam Era, not just judging by raw wins and losses. Jonquel Jones finally returned from ankle injuries that kept her out a month in total, only for Breanna Stewart to go down with a bone bruise. Nyara Sabally remains snake-bitten, and now Kennedy Burke has joined her.

They are tired. They are injured. They are struggling.

Their loss to the last-place Connecticut Sun on Friday was disappointing, but not shocking. The Sun are young, feisty, and improving. An awful -15.7 net rating on the season belies the fact they’re a respectable -2.5 since July started. They’ve been healthy, have added promising rookie Leïla Lacan, and are playing with newfound confidence. Doesn’t sound too much like the Liberty, does it?

But there are no excuses at this level, and definitely not when the Sun are 5-21. So the Liberty needed a win — real bad — in the rematch at Mohegan on Sunday afternoon, and they’d be getting some help this time, in the form of recent addition Emma Meesseman.

Meesseman started in her team debut on Sunday, and went slightly over the allotted 15-minute limit that Sandy Brondello wanted to impose. But once Meesseman took the floor, giving the Liberty another high-feel big body that they so desperately needed, it was hard to take her off it...

yeah I think Emma is gonna fit in pic.twitter.com/XzpPVndzPi

— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 3, 2025​

The Belgian import explained her seamless fit postgame: “Basketball can be really easy, if you just read off each other. One of my mottos is to keep it simple ... if it works, it works. If you see someone open and they cut, give them the ball and you get a layup. It’s easy.”

Meesseman finished with 11/2/3 in her debut, scoring all her points in the second half. It was the performance the Liberty needed, and yet, it was completely overshadowed by another monstrous Sabrina Ionescu performance.

She scored 36 points with 11 boards and four assists, and remarkably, she made just one three. Ionescu shot 13-of-19 from two, continuing to show the true star development she’s made over the past couple seasons...

4 early ’s from @sabrina_i20 to get the momentum going in CT! pic.twitter.com/kiD9k3aTqc

— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 3, 2025​

She scored 16 points in the first quarter and hardly slowed down after that, mixing in pull-up jumpers with floaters, drives all the way to the rim, and pick-and-roll passing.

Said Ionescu: “I mean, if you asked me if I scored 36 points on one made three, I’d probably say that’s not really what I had planned. But I think it’s just the ability to play at my own pace, be confident in what works, and every game just looks different.”

More succinctly, Ionescu did everything, over 37 minutes. It was a true MVP performance, beyond just bucket-getting. She showed up with the fire in her eyes, annoying the hell out of Marina Mabrey on defense while getting into it with Bria Hartley after a hard foul. Sometimes, she just needed to yell at the referees. But you knew if the Liberty played as pissed off as Ionescu seemed to be, regardless of the shots going in, they’d be fine.

And they were.

Jonquel Jones put up 21/9/4 in her old home arena, ripping off a run of buckets in the second quarter to put some distance between the Libs and a hard-fighting Connecticut team. She played high-low with Meesseman, pick-and-roll with Ionescu, and otherwise fit in where she could...

think NYL's offense has looked pretty decent so far, slip for JJ here

gotta get some stops pic.twitter.com/kreEG6Gh1f

— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 3, 2025​

In a rock-fight where the teams combined to make just nine threes, Jones’ presence inside, as it often is, was too much for the Sun to overcome. After the three big names, Rebekah Gardner was the next leading Liberty scorer with six points, but played 22 minutes to Steph Talbot’s nine, perhaps (hopefully?) signaling a permanent change in the rotation. Natasha Cloud shot just 1-of-7 for three points, but forced a handful of Connecticut’s turnovers with her ball pressure.

The dam finally broke for the Liberty at the start of the fourth quarter, where another burst from Jones handed them a 15-point lead. Though some silly turnovers at game’s end made the score closer than it really was, the Liberty walked out of Mohegan with a well-earned, desperately-needed victory.

“I think we showed how resilient we are, how we can stay together, because that’s — everyone faces adversity. It’s about what we’re going to do with it,” said Sandy Brondello postgame.

And that resiliency, at least on Sunday, all started with Sabrina Ionescu. The 2020 #1 overall draft pick put the jersey, then the franchise on her back and carried them to a win. It’s what true stars do, but it’s regular to them.

“I had seven turnovers, so that sucks.” — Sabrina Ionescu

Final Score: New York Liberty 87, Connecticut Sun 78

Next Up​

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The New York Liberty briefly return home, looking to avenge a blowout loss at the hands of Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings. Tip-off is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. ET.

• Boxscore: New York Liberty 87, Connecticut Sun 78 - WNBA
• Game Highlights: New York Liberty 87, Connecticut Sun 78 (Video) - WNBA
• Ionescu scores 36, Meesseman has 11 in debut as Liberty beat Sun 87-78 to snap 4-game skid - AP

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/3/24480301/liberty-vs-sun-87-78-sabrina-ionescu-emma-meesseman

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

Brooklyn Nets signing Ricky Council IV, 76ers wing, on one-year deal

While everyone has been focusing on either Cam Thomas’ restricted free agency, Michael Porter Jr.’s adjustment to New York and/or the team’s five rookies, the Brooklyn Nets are signing Ricky Council IV, an athletic 6’6”, 23-year-old wing to a one-year deal, Council was waived six days ago by Philadelphia 76ers.

Shams Charania of ESPN was first with the news…

Free agent guard/forward Ricky Council IV will sign a one-year contract with the Brooklyn Nets, his agent Adie von Gontard tells ESPN. The former 76ers wing appeared in a team-high 73 games last season, averaging 7.3 points and 2.9 rebounds.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 1, 2025

Shams did not detail how the Nets will sign Council IV but a league source tells NetsDaily, Council will get a partially guaranteed, one-year deal.

With the signing, Brooklyn currently has 10 standard guaranteed deals, five standard non-guaranteed deals (now including Council,) three unsigned restricted free agents and two two-way deals on the books, giving them 20 players. NBA Teams can bring 21 players into training camp which is the Nets case will open the last week of September. Council will turn 24 on Sunday, making him the 11th youngest player of the 20.

He went undrafted out of Arkansas in 2023, but impressed at the NBA Combine, registering a 37.5” max vertical to go along with his 6’9” wingspan. RC4, as he’s known, was signed to a two-way deal with Philly before the 2023-24 season, playing most the year with the Delaware Blue Coats, averaging 23.4 points in 11 games on shooting splits of 47/35/80. His numbers with the 76ers were also promising, putting up 5.4 points a game in 32 games all off the bench. He registered shooting splits of 48/38/75, leading the Sixers to convert his deal to a standard but non-guaranteed at $7.4 million and four years in April 2024.

Here’s some highlights from his rookie season:

With the 76ers the league leader in injuries this past season, Council IV’s numbers picked up more minutes but his numbers dropped off. Playing 1,000+ minutes more in 2024-25 than he had his rookie season, he averaged 6.7 points in 73 games, 12 of them starts. However, his shooting dropped off dramatically with splits of 38/26/80. In two games on assignment with the Blue Coats in January and March, however, he put up 29 and 40-point efforts shooting 38.9% from deep.

The 76ers waived him to open a roster spot. In describing the move, the Philly Sports Network predicted he wouldn’t remain a free agent for long:

While Council IV’s time is ending with the Sixers, it does not mean that his time in the NBA should come to an end. He still may have some untapped potential, and many teams could look to add Council IV with the intent of developing him into a serviceable 3-and-D player for the future either on a minimum deal or a two-way deal.

• Nets adding Ricky Council IV on one-year deal as roster retool continues – Zach Braziller – New York Post

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/2025/8/1/...-ricky-council-iv-76ers-wing-on-one-year-deal

 

[Brooklyn Nets]

New York Liberty escape Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings with victory, 85-76

The grind doesn’t stop. The New York Liberty, a tired and banged up bunch, snapped their four-game losing streak with a healing win on Sunday afternoon against the Connecticut Sun. Two days later, they were taking on the Dallas Wings at Barclays Center, the first of a home-and-home against Paige Bueckers & Co.

It was but a brief respite from a month full of travel for the Liberty, still clinging onto the #2 seed. But it was also a get-back game. Dallas embarrassed the Libs on national television to end July, building a 30-point lead before New York applied some window-dressing. Even without Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke, and Nyara Sabally — as they will be for a while — the Liberty entered Tuesday as deserving favorites who needed to beat up on the 8-21 Wings.

“It was terrible,” said Sandy Brondello of their last matchup. “We had no fight, no energy, no toughness. They got whatever they wanted.”

Early on Tuesday, it appeared that the Liberty would firmly right all previous wrongs. They led 24-15 after a smooth first quarter in which the ball was humming on one end while they switched screens against Paige Bueckers on the other…

Liberty switching Jonquel onto Paige to start is very fun: pic.twitter.com/rX4DytFnTT

— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 5, 2025

Bueckers found a couple tough buckets in isolation, but most possessions were as stagnant as the one above. New York was decidedly not letting Dallas get whatever they want. That didn’t change in the second quarter, but with Sabrina Ionescu on the bench to start the frame, their offense fell flat. Jonquel Jones made a couple of tremendous individual plays, and the Liberty only turned it over once in the period, but they couldn’t find the bottom of the net.

Naturally, the Wings sped up their offense, and even more naturally, Paige Bueckers started doing Paige Bueckers things…

OH MY BUECKERS

Paige has the ball on an absolute string as she gets herself an open jumper!

DAL-NYL | League Pass pic.twitter.com/zSWYnhAP8m

— WNBA (@WNBA) August 5, 2025

The surefire Rookie of the Year would finish with 21/8/4 in 32 minutes; a packed Barclays Center crowd, not lacking for Bueckers jerseys, got what they came to see. New York switched less frequently as the game went on, but Bueckers just went at whoever was in front of her. All eight of her field-goals were highlights, and with Arike Ogunbowale shooting just 3-of-12, Dallas needed every one of it.

They did, however, get production from Poughkeepsie’s own Maddy Siegrist and Haley Jones, each of whom hit double-digits. That was enough to make it a two-point game at halftime; nothing comes too easily to this Liberty team.

Sabrina Ionescu, following her 36-point explosion in Connecticut, scored just nine points in this one. It was Jonquel Jones who led the Libs with 15 points on 6-of-12, also double-doubling with ten boards. But what really made the difference for the hosts in the second half was depth, a bit depleted but still better than what most teams have to offer.

Rebekah Gardner started the third quarter in place of Emma Meesseman, with Brondello citing a smaller Dallas lineup and a minutes restriction for Meesseman. Gardner hit a big three and dished three assists in a dozen solid minutes, while Meesseman shined as she normally does. The Liberty’s most recent addition put up 13/3/2/1/2 and really got aggressive when she re-entered the ballgame in the third…

Emma Meesseman creates an open three (over help): pic.twitter.com/I58vsf3Iuc

— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 6, 2025

“I thought Emma had another solid game for us,” said Brondello. “I think every minute she plays, she finds more chemistry with how we want to play, learning not just the system, but the players that she’s in it [with].”

Meesseman hit connected on some dribble-handoff actions with Leonie Fiebich, who added 14 points of her own on a characteristically crisp 5-of-7 shooting. She also helped Natasha Cloud get downhill with bulky screens, and Cloud responded in turn with 12/4/6, playing a team-high 31 minutes, a professional point-guard performance in every sense.

The final Liberty scorer in double-digits was Stephanie Talbot, who turned in her best performance in the sea foam. The Aussie shot 4-of-6, including 3-of-4 from three, including some daggers in the fourth quarter. Now eight games into her New York career, she seems to be battling Gardner for minutes, but it’s a good problem for Brondello to have if she can push the right buttons; Gardner won out in Connecticut, while Talbot closed the game on Tuesday. The result: two wins.

Said Talbot: “I’m slowly getting more and more comfortable playing with these players. I think I’ve had maybe two trainings, so it’s like, trying to find my rhythm in games is kind of tough, but the more I play and the more I watch and learn what the players like to do, it’s easier for me.”

Dallas couldn’t match that all-around impact, but New York’s defense didn’t let them. Postgame, Brondello was proud of her team’s switch-heavy defense: “”I know it’s hard when you’re a little bit more fatigued. And for the most part, I thought we did well. I think in the last game, they got too many points in the paint, easy. We were very spread out. “So, you know, we came up with the adjustment, ‘let’s just switch it.’ For the most part I think it was good, and that’s something that we like to do anyway. So it’s good for us to get more practice at it.”

Talbot’s third and final three extended New York’s lead to 13 midway through the fourth quarter, and that was the death blow in a true team-win for hosts. They are banged up, they are a little tired, but with no season-ending injuries (knock on wood), they are still the unequivocal title favorites.

It’s not just because they beat the floundering Dallas Wings, who Paige Bueckers will one day carry toward the top of the league. It’s the talent, a collection now boasting Emma Meesseman, a former Finals MVP who, just two games in, has already been a monster addition to the Liberty. She is, just, so good.

And Liberty fans recognized it on Tuesday evening. The victorious night ended with the Belgian star at half court, about to be interviewed by Fox 5’s Tina Cervasio, when “EMMA” chants broke out throughout the arena…

Natasha Cloud started the “EMMA EMMA EMMA” chant pic.twitter.com/v0rJD3Qhpk

— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) August 6, 2025

When asked why her transition has been so seamless, Meesseman pointed to a gaggle of teammates behind her: “It’s all them.”

The Liberty are indeed mortal. They get hurt, they lose four in a row, they get a little angsty. Like every basketball team. But they are also the defending world champions who got even better this season. And they can’t go too long without reminding us why they’re the favorites to repeat.

Even if the road ain’t easy.

Final Score: New York Liberty 85, Dallas Wings 76

Next Up​

It is a home-and-home, after all. The New York Liberty will travel to Dallas and decide the season-series. Tip-off is scheduled for Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Source: https://www.netsdaily.com/nyliberty...aige-bueckers-dallas-wings-with-victory-85-76