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2025 Free Agents - Jalen Wilson

After a successful 4-year college career at Kansas, during which Wilson averaged over 20 points per game his final season, Wilson was drafted 51st overall by the Nets in 2023. He signed a two-way contract with Brooklyn, and played well enough as a rookie to get a standard contract. Wilson continued his strong play into the 2024 NBA Summer League, winning MVP. Wilson is a fluid athlete with good ball-handling skills and the ability to create shots for himself. He has multiple moves that he can go to, and uses his change of pace to keep defenders off balance. Wilson had to rely on some tough shot-making in college, and did so with decent efficiency. He can score at all levels. Wilson hasn't racked up many assists, but has shown some ability to play-make for others and make the right reads when he collapses the defense on drives. Defensively, Wilson is a physical defender with enough size and mobility to be a good switchable defender. He has shown the ability to rotate on time and be a contributor to a good team defense. He isn't particularly disruptive or someone that will lock down opposing offensive players, but he's solid all around. Wilson has shown to be a solid pick given where he was taken in the 2023 draft. He still needs to show that he can be a solid role player, and effective without having the ball in his hands all the time, but he shot nearly 37% from 3 in the NBA and G-League combined as a rookie, which is a good sign. He also just has good feel for the game and a balanced skillset, which gives me more confidence in him going forward, because he doesn't have any huge weaknesses he needs to fix. Wilson will already be nearly 25 years old as a potential free agent in 2025, so he's a little older than most players with his amount of experience.

Summary

Wilson's $2.2 million salary for 2025-2026 is non-guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Nets will have no form of Bird rights on him. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so, as his contract doesn't fit within the minimum salary exception as it was a three-year contract. If Wilson becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. If he is waived and clears waivers, it's likely he will only have minimum offers.

Cap Considerations

Josh Minott (3rd year minimum non-guaranteed salary not waived, 2024) Johnny Juzang (4-3 years, $12 million, 2024) Brandon Boston Jr. (1 years minimum, non-guaranteed, 2024)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Nets, Magic, Clippers, Suns, Heat

Predicted Contract: Not waived: $2.3 million
If waived: 1-year, $2.3 million (non-guaranteed) with the Magic

Last updated: 9/29/2024

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