One of the Nets’ biggest offseason questions for this summer was whether or not forward Thaddeus Young, who was acquired for Kevin Garnett at the trade deadline during this past season, would remain with the team for next year. According to Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Young will opt out of the final year of his contract, making the answer to that question a lot more unknown.
The news means that Young, who turned 27 yesterday, is eschewing the $9.9 million he would have earned for the 2015-16 season if he had not exercised the early termination option in his deal. Nets fans may remember that a similar ETO in Dwight Howard’s contract–which he did not end up exercising–was a major hold-up in the center almost being traded from the Magic to New Jersey with the Nets.
However, just because Thaddeus is now an unrestricted free agent doesn’t mean he is definitely leaving Brooklyn. What it does mean is that both he and his agent think they can garner more than $10 million on the open market for this season–a one-year deal would expire before the new CBA is agreed upon, which is expected to increase salaries–or guarantee his financial security with a longterm deal.
Even with that said, it puts the Nets and Billy King on the clock as they could see one of their top returning players simply walk away to another team with no compensation in return. Brooklyn’s general manager has said in recent weeks that re-signing Thaddeus is an enormous priority, and the exercising of the ETO complicates that greatly.
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