Nets are using partially guaranteed contracts to mend a roster

By foxsports
Published

The Nets have been one of the most fiscally irresponsible NBA teams over the past few years, but that mentality appears to be becoming a thing of the past.

Brooklyn's No. 1 priority this offseason was to shed money, and shed money they did, buying out Deron Williams and letting loose on other players who commanded legitimate money on the open market, guys like Mirza Teletovic and Alan Anderson. The Nets have figured out a way to find guys on the cheap: give our partial or non-guaranteed contracts.

Here's more from NetsDaily:

Of the guys the Nets have brought in this offseason, Ryan Boatright, Donald Sloan, Quincy Miller and Willie Reed all have partial guarantees. Markel Brown, meanwhile, is still non-guaranteed, though it'd be a pretty big shocker if the Nets didn't bring him back for next season considering he started the final 29 games last season and was a fixture on their summer league team.

(h/t NetsDaily)

You can call it part of the cost-cutting/fiscal responsibility or the youth movement, both of which the Nets are trumpeting this summer, but whatever you call it, Brooklyn's front office is making unprecedented use of partially guaranteed contracts.

For years, the Nets didn't do partial guarantees. From 2004 through 2010, the Nets had issued only one partially guaranteed deal, a $25,000 stipend given shooting guard Robert Hite in 2007. Then, after Mikhail Prokhorov opened his substantial wallet in 2010, the Nets were more willing to take the risk, giving Brian Zoubek $50,000 and Ben Uzoh $35,000. Both were partial guarantees on minimum deals. Uzoh made the team, Zoubek, the Duke seven-footer, had to retire from the game because of back issues.

Since then, the Nets have used partial guarantees, but not to the extend they have this summer. The five players on partial deals is the most in the NBA. Three teams, the 76ers, Jazz and Mavericks have four each. The difference between partial guarantees and the players' full salary amounts to more than $3.4 million, according to calculations by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.