The first trade of the NBA season – and the first since the Knicks-Timberwolves blockbuster on the first day of training camp in October – is just around the corner; The Heat and Pacers have agreed to a deal for Thomas Bryant and draft picks, the Miami Herald reports…

The trade cannot become official until Sunday, when Bryant and 79 other NBA players signed in the offseason can be traded for the first time. Expect more rumors through Sunday. Will the Brooklyn Nets be there? Depends on who you talk to. Some sources suggest Brooklyn will move quickly, but others point to Sean Mark’s longstanding patience.

However, the rumor mill is active. It appears a number of reporters are looking to get a piece of Woj’s cape in this first trading season without St. Bonaventure’s new director of men’s basketball.

Jake Fischer, a veteran trade expert who works with Marc Stein’s The Steinline, reported two days ago that the Nets were ready to go.

According to league sources, Washington, Utah and Brooklyn are the key teams that have established themselves as clear sellers across the league.

“When you call them, they’re ready to do a deal right away,” said a rival executive.

But league sources tell ND it could be difficult to get deals done because Brooklyn only wants expiring deals along with draft capital. “Trading with them will be difficult,” one source said. “As they will only take back expiring (contracts).” While a second added that this was the narrative, they added: “I think they will take two-year money if the draft is sufficient.”

On Friday, the most active rumors were about the Nets and the Golden State Warriors, but the experts couldn’t even agree on who the veteran most likely to move is!

Evan Sidery says Net the Warriors braintrust wants Cam Johnson most…

But while that left fans reeling, it should be noted that the Forbes reporter added two important caveats to his reporting, saying only that it “appears” that Johnson is a Warrior target and that Brooklyn “probably” Kuminga would demand in return. Kuminga, a 22-year-old winger who grew up in New Jersey, will be a restricted free agent starting in July. He wants $35 million a year, which made even the spendthrift Warriors pale. It’s likely the Nets would see a similar reaction whether there’s more than $60 million in cap space or not.

Clutch Points’ Brett Siegel says: No, it’s not Cam Johnson, but Dennis Schroder who has the most interest in Golden State…

Shams Charania says the Warriors are actually interested in all three, stating this week…

The Nets have received trade interest and initiated exploratory discussions surrounding forwards Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Dennis Schroder, sources said.

Shams also suggested that Schroder, who is making $13.0 million on an expiring contract, could fit in a trade for guard De’Anthony Melton, who is making $12.8 million but is “collapsed” after undergoing ACL surgery with draft incentives” is canceled for the season… not further defined. (A league source familiar with the Nets’ situation also refuted this. “Whatever Shams comes out with is nothing new.”)

There’s even disagreement among local reporters about what draft assets the Nets want in return… and whether they can actually get them. Mike Scotto, citing “league executives,” suggests that neither Schroder nor DFS will give the Nets anything more than “multiple second-rounders” and that Johnson “may be able to get a future first-round pick in return if the Nets trade him before then.” “the deadline.”

Brian Lewis and Ian Begley disagree. The Post’s Lewis says the Nets want a first-plus draft asset for Schroder, and SNY’s Begley agrees, reporting that there will be “at least” a first-round pick. “To acquire Dennis Schroder.”

That lines up with a report from Fischer that “the early price the Nets were asking for either veteran swingman Dorian Finney-Smith or point guard Dennis Schröder: at least a first-round pick.”

Will Marks & Co. stick to getting first-rounders in return for one or both, and how long will he wait? Marks’ story is one of patience. When Kevin Durant demanded a trade in the summer of 2022, the Nets GM rejected a number of offers. Notably, the Suns, under former owner Robert Sarver, refused to include Mikal Bridges in a KD trade this summer. In February, after Durant again said he wanted out, new Suns owner Mat Ishbia was willing to bring in Jae Crowder, etc. in addition to Bridges.

Similarly, Marks passed on a Knick offer – as well as multiple offers from the Rockets – for Bridges at the deadline. According to multiple sources, the Knicks later made an offer that the Nets couldn’t refuse, and Brooklyn decided to get serious about a deal, resulting in the franchise modification agreements announced on June 25.

There are other problems going forward, as Fred Katz wrote in The Athletic Saturday. In an extensive look back at the big rumors ahead of the trade season opener on Sunday, Katz wrote about Cam Johnson’s incentives: Like Keith Smith and Bobby Marks before him, he reported that they represent a certain level of difficulty for the Nets, assuming they face an urgency to move him.

Katz even suggests a CamJ trade that at first glance might make sense for the Warriors and Nets… but thanks to the new CBA, the devil is in the details.

The Golden State Warriors, who have a hard cap on the first frontcourt and are just $533,000 under, would make basketball sense for Johnson. The salaries of injured De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II and one of their young, minimal players (e.g. Gui Santos) total $219,000 more than what Johnson makes, meaning the Warriors are in the Should be able to trade those three plus draft capital to make Brooklyn’s time worth it.

But these unlikely incentives kill the deal. The Warriors would need to add another $2.7 million to the trade. This could mean including someone important that you don’t want to give up on. It could mean adding two more players at the end of the bench, but that would turn this potential trade into a five-for-one ratio, which isn’t realistic given that Brooklyn would have to cut four players.

Additionally, Katz notes that the Nets are close to the luxury tax limit — $2 million, or “less than a veteran’s minimum contract” — and “under no circumstances could they justify going into that.” The sanctions would be too onerous and would extend throughout Reconstruction and beyond.

And so we wait, with no concrete indication of what the Nets will do and when. In fact, everything remains speculation until someone not named Woj spreads the news.