LAS VEGAS — Nets general manager Sean Marks said Brooklyn will have extension talks with Michael Porter Jr., but there is no rush.
“I’m sure we’ll have those discussions. I think we’ve got time. There’s no immediate hurry right now with Mike. We value him a lot. He had a terrific year last year, arguably his best year as a pro. I give him a lot of credit for that,” Marks said. “It’s been great to see what Mike’s done for us. I look forward to having those discussions, and seeing what Mike can do the rest of the summer and the rest of the season.”
Porter is on an expiring $40.8 million deal, and on July 6 became eligible for a four-year, $234 million extension. The Nets clearly won’t give him that much, but how much would they be inclined to pay? And how much urgency do they have to get a deal done sooner rather than later?
“No, any time you’re in a hurry, that’s when people make mistakes,” Marks said. “We’ve got a well-thought-out plan here over not only the last couple of years but the couple of years ahead. We’re gonna try and find who the next Nets are gonna be. I don’t think we wanna do anything hastily or in a rush here.
“As I said before, I love Mike, the guy, the person, the player, and I hope he is part of this team. But we’re just gonna have to have those discussions between the two of us and our representatives and go from there.”
After trading Nic Claxton for Julius Randle (and Joshua Jefferson), the Nets still have about $11 million in cap space. That doesn’t include their agreement with Moritz Wagner, whom they can neatly fit into the mid-level exception.
One option suggested by ESPN insider Bobby Marks and Yossi Gozlan of Third Apron was to use cap space to renegotiate and extend Porter. Brooklyn could give him a raise up to the 30 percent max for this season (to $49.5 million), and then up to a 40 percent pay cut in the first year of the extension, 2027-28.
Having Porter with a smaller cap hit — say, $30 million to start — would help the Nets’ team-building by the time they start to actually contend. Marks did acknowledge it as a viable option.
“There’s going to be a lot of things on the table for us. That would certainly be something we’re going to have that optionality that we have not only with MPJ, but with a lot of our guys,” Marks said. “And I like the fact that a lot of our guys are playing with a chip on their shoulder and have something to prove, not only the guys we acquired in our trades but the guys we’ve signed here.”
Porter joined Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic and Jaylen Brown as the only players to average 24 points and seven rebounds this past season, even after a slow finish and a hamstring injury.
The 27-year-old has stated a desire to re-sign, saying, “I’d love to spend many years in Brooklyn, make this my home and build and watch this franchise take off.”
Brooklyn smothered Sacramento 115-83 in summer league action Wednesday. They forced 28 turnovers that they converted into 41 points.
Egor Dëmin had 22 points, eight assists, four steals and zero turnovers. Rookie Mikel Brown Jr. added 16 points, five assists, two steals and a block. He also told the coaches he wanted to guard Sacramento’s Darius Acuff Jr.
“Yeah, coming into the draft, people were like, ‘Defense, can he deal with the physicality, can he guard at a high level?’ Where I come from, man, if you’re the one getting picked on, you ain’t supposed to be on the court,” Brown said. “So that’s just my mentality going into every single game.”
Acuff had 26 points but five turnovers and finished minus-15.
