The Nets appear to be on the verge of signing Kyrie Irving. They opened double-max cap space to pursue a second star like Kevin Durant, Tobias Harris or Jimmy Butler.
Brooklyn isn’t going to let Rondae Hollis-Jefferson foil that plan.
The Nets could make Hollis-Jefferson a restricted free agent, giving them the right to match any offer he receives. But do so, they must extend a $3,594,369 qualifying offer. That’s essentially a one-year contract offer he could accept at any time. If he did, he’d count against the cap at $3,594,369. Brooklyn doesn’t want to risk that.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
After Brooklyn declines to make a qualifying offer, F Rondae Hollis-Jefferson will become an unrestricted free agent, league sources tell ESPN. Hollis-Jefferson, 24, defends multiple positions well. For now, Nets have $46M in cap space.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 17, 2019
The Nets could still re-sign Hollis-Jefferson. This just prevents him from unilaterally accepting the qualifying offer and jamming up cap space.
But this signals Brooklyn is ready to move on. Hollis-Jefferson, who become an unrestricted free agent after spending his first four years with the Nets, might also be ready.
The 24-year-old Hollis-Jefferson has settled in as an undersized power forward. He’s a switchable defender and active offensively. Playing power forward somewhat covers for his lack of shooting and ball-handling ability, but that can still be exploited.
