The Nets Updated Cap Space Plans, Cam Thomas Qualifying Offer, and P.J. Washington Extension

I show how the Nets could roll over cap space into the season after re-signing Cam Thomas and Day'Ron Sharpe and take a look at the Mavericks long-term cap impact by extending P.J. Washington.

Transactions have slowed down in August. Most of the league was on vacation, but two teams remained active and made moves yesterday.

The first is the Brooklyn Nets, the only team left with significant cap space. They made the most recent trade in the league last month when they acquired Haywood Highsmith with a second-round pick. It got the Heat out of the luxury tax while growing the Nets’ total second-round picks through the next seven drafts to 19.

Then they finally re-signed Day’Ron Sharpe yesterday. The deal was agreed upon over two months ago, but the Nets held off as they pursue opportunities to maximize their cap space first. They even rewarded him with an additional $500,000 for his patience. He will receive a flat $6.25 million cap hit for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

And now this morning, we have our first meaningful update on the top restricted free agents in over a month. Cam Thomas has accepted his $6 million qualifying offer with the Nets, according to Shams Charania. He had until October 1 to accept it before it expires. The closer we get to that date, the more viable it becomes for Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey, and Quentin Grimes to accept.

Thomas will become an unrestricted free agent in 2026 by accepting his qualifying offer. He has veto rights on trades throughout the season, but accepting a trade would eliminate his Bird rights and give him Non Bird with his new team. This means his new team could only give him a $7.2 million starting salary, which is a 120 percent raise.

This development will hamper the Nets’ ability to trade him. But Thomas doesn’t have much trade value and may not have positive value when looking at how the league has valued scoring guards this summer. Unlike the Warriors with Kuminga, the Nets aren’t keeping Thomas for the sole purpose of extracting positive value for him.

Brooklyn’s recent moves are significant because they likely signal that they don’t have another big imbalanced trade coming. As detailed last month, they already used $36 million in two separate trades to take on players with multiple years left on their contracts, along with a first-round pick in each deal. They may be looking at something smaller scale with minor draft equity.

Expect the Nets to finalize the signing of Ziaire Williams in the near future. He would eat up another $6.25 million in cap space if he re-signs for the same terms as Sharpe. The Nets currently have just under $10 million in cap space following the Sharpe and Thomas signings, but they effectively have more when factoring in their roster crunch.