After an eventful opening two days of free agency — re-signing Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young, then adding Shane Larkin and Thomas Robinson — the Nets appear to be headed into the holiday weekend without making any more immediate additions.
It has been a productive last week-plus for the Nets, who kept their top two free agents and got several younger, athletic players. But with a payroll currently north of $97 million, the Nets are set to be hit with a substantial luxury-tax bill — somewhere around $40 million — while needing to add another big man and potentially another wing, too.
That’s why trading either Deron Williams or Joe Johnson has been widely speculated. Either move would allow the Nets to save substantial money this season — and, if they move Williams, it would mean avoiding his $22.3 million player option for next season.
The more likely outcome, however, is a trade of Johnson, who has a massive expiring contract of $24.9 million that, while expensive this year, would allow teams to preserve their 2016 cap space.
Here are a few possible landing spots for the two, looking at the landscape of the league through the start of free agency:
Lakers
As the Lakers continue to strike out on free agents with more than $20 million in cap space, they also seem more like a potential trade partner. There would be something amusing about the Lakers having the two highest-paid players in the NBA on their roster in Kobe Bryant ($25 million) and Johnson, but it could make some sense for them.
The Lakers’ plan has been to have max cap room next summer, in order to attract multiple free agents when Bryant’s contract comes off the books. While Johnson obviously would be expensive this year, by adding him the Lakers potentially could have only the contracts of Nick Young, Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell and Larry Nance on the books for next year — giving them in excess of $70 million in cap space.
Grizzlies
The Grizzlies were reported as being interested in a Johnson trade last week, and have the contracts to make an interesting deal for both sides.
Memphis has several expiring deals (Jeff Green, Courtney Lee, Matt Barnes and Beno Udrih), and Vince Carter has a non-guaranteed deal for next season, so there are plenty of possibilities to construct a trade.
A deal would give Memphis the wing scorer they have lacked in recent years, and would allow the Nets to save money and fill roster holes.
Pistons
The Pistons were thought to be interested in Johnson at some point last season, and with Stan Van Gundy trying to get his team into the playoffs, could be a potential option again.
Detroit has spent some money, but could put together a combination of expiring contracts — Brandon Jennings, Anthony Tolliver and Cartier Martin — that would allow them to fit Johnson into some of their remaining cap space while saving the Nets a lot of money.