The Nets started leveraging the league’s biggest cache of cap space, getting former lottery pick Ochai Agbaji as a no-risk flier, along with a second-round pick and cash in a three-way deal with the Clippers and Raptors on Wednesday.
The deal — first reported by ESPN and confirmed by The Post — saw the Nets get a 2032 Raptors second-rounder, and Chris Paul ostensibly sent to Toronto. The veteran guard won’t be required to report to Toronto and is expected to be waived.
The trade deadline is 3 p.m. Thursday.
The Nets added to their league-high stockpile of draft picks, and even got cash to help cover Agbaji’s salary. The shooting guard is making $6.4 million this season, and Brooklyn will receive $3.5 million from the Clippers, per Chris Haynes. L.A. also got the rights to Vanja Marinkovic.
Agbaji is a former Kansas teammate of Nets wing Jalen Wilson. He was the Final Four Most Outstanding Player in leading the Jayhawks to the 2022 national title, and arrived in the league as the 14th pick in 2022, billed as a 3-and-D type.
The wing has averaged 7.3 points in 243 career games. Last season was Agbaji’s best, as he averaged 10.4 points and 3.8 boards on 50/40/70 shooting splits in 64 games for Toronto, 45 of them starts.
Averaging just 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 15.5 minutes over 42 games this season, it’s unclear what role Agbaji will fill in Brooklyn.
What is clear is that Nets GM Sean Marks weaponizing cap space to take salary dumps is one of the few sure things in life.
Ochai Agbaji Getty Images
Marks got Denver’s 2032 first-rounder (to take Michael Porter Jr.), a first in this past June’s draft (to take Terance Mann), and a 2032 Miami second (to take Haywood Highsmith). He also got to take a cheap look at former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin for $100,000, eventually waiving him.
Similar to his low-risk flier on Bufkin, Agbaji is the latest.
But he might not be the last.
“Brooklyn I expect to be in multiple deals in the next 24 hours,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on-air Wednesday afternoon.
The Nets can take Agbaji into their league-high $15.3 million in cap space and still have $8.9 million left. But if Brooklyn exhausts the rest of their cap space to take more expensive players, they could still use their $8.8 million room mid-level exception to absorb Agbaji, per cap expert Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron.
The Nets — with 12 future first-round picks — have a staggering 21 second-round picks through 2032.
Cam Thomas #24 of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket against the Lakers. Corey Sipkin for the NY POSTThe Nets still must make a move to open a roster spot for Agbaji.
The Post can confirm that Cam Thomas was not on the Nets team plane when it departed for Thursday’s game in Orlando, Fla., against the Magic. Thomas is out for personal reasons.
The 24-year-old shooting guard has lost his starting job and is perceived as available. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after rejecting multiple contracts from the Nets last summer and opting to play on a qualifying offer.
While Brooklyn had no viable offers for Thomas last season and he garnered no interest over the summer, Milwaukee has been interested in him in the past. On Wednesday, Hoopshype reported that he was drawing interest from Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Several teams will likely check on the availability of Porter, but the Nets aren’t shopping him and are believed to be happy to keep him. Centers Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe have drawn interest. The latter had 19 points and 14 boards off the bench Tuesday vs. the Lakers, The Athletic reporting “sources inside the Lakers locker room are fans” of Sharpe.
