Brooklyn

Nets

After two seasons at Saint Mary’s, Jefferson transferred to Iowa State, where his career truly blossomed. A consensus All-American as a senior, he averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.8 blocks and 1.1 three-pointers while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 70.0 percent from the foul line. The 6-foot-8 forward brings a high basketball IQ to the table, similar to that of another former Iowa State standout, Georges Niang, and his perimeter shot has steadily improved. While the Timberwolves drafted him, Jefferson will be headed to Brooklyn as part of the Julius Randle trade. With the Nets in a rebuild, the playmaking forward should get opportunities to contribute, even if he’s likely to come off the bench. Jefferson will likely be more valuable in dynasty leagues than redraft leagues next season.

Despite playing in 21 games, Brown earned third-team All-ACC honors after his lone season at Louisville. A back injury led to him missing a total of 14 games; eight in December/January, and the final six after the issue flared up in late February. The 6-foot-5 Brown, who is one of the most gifted offensive talents in this draft class, averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.6 three-pointers. To flourish at the next level, Brown will need to become more efficient as a scorer and playmaker, as evidenced by his shooting 41.0 percent from the field and committing 3.1 turnovers per game. While the Nets did use three of their five first-round picks in the 2025 draft on guards, none truly separated themselves from the pack. As a result, Brown should have every opportunity to take the reins as the franchise’s starting point guard of the future. The preseason battle between him, Egor Dëmin, Nolan Traoré and Ben Saraf will be one for fantasy managers to watch, especially if Brown remains healthy.

After two seasons in Minnesota, Randle is headed back to the Big Apple, albeit a different borough. While he did struggle during the Timberwolves’ second-round series against San Antonio, the veteran forward had a productive 2025-26 regular season. In 79 games, Randle averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.4 three-pointers, shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 80.2 percent from the foul line. With the Nets in the midst of a rebuild, it’s fair to wonder if they won’t look to move Randle to another team. He can provide reliable top-75 fantasy value, especially in points leagues. Staying in Brooklyn could raise Randle’s ceiling, as was the case with Michael Porter Jr. Still, fantasy managers would also have to worry about the possibility of his minutes decreasing late in the season. As part of the trade, Minnesota will receive the rights to the 33rd overall pick in this week’s draft. Randle’s exit means Naz Reid will start consistently, raising his fantasy ceiling, and it also gives the Timberwolves the financial flexibility needed to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu.

Collins, the 18th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, passed away due to stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer. He played 13 seasons for eight teams, including eight as a member of the Nets. Collins, who entered the league the same year as his twin Jarron, was the first active, openly gay player to play in the NBA and remains the only one. One of Collins’ roles in his post-NBA career was serving as an NBA Cares Ambassador.

Johnson is currently on a two-way deal, which he signed back in December. He has only been part of the rotation over the past month, and he had his best outing in the season finale. This was the first double-double of his career, which included a career high in rebounds. After going undrafted last summer, Johnson may have done enough to be kept around the organization beyond this season.

After scoring a career-high 23 points in Friday’s loss, Etienne was able to stay hot in this game with the second 20-point game of his career. He’s still on a two-way contract, but he closed this season out on a high note and could end up signing a new contract with the Nets this offseason.

Before fouling out, Saraf tallied a solid stat line in 26 minutes. This was his fourth straight start, and he has averaged 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game during this stretch. Saraf was the 26th pick in the draft last summer and showed some flashes during his first year in the league. He likely won’t be ready to make significant contributions during his second season, but he’s worth stashing in dynasty formats.

Traoré was downgraded to doubtful earlier in the day and has now officially been ruled out. Ben Saraf should continue to start at point guard for Brooklyn, though he may see extra minutes with Traoré out. The 19-year-old is simply going to have to shoot better than 38 percent from the field to have any chance of being a fantasy asset. He’s still young, and he did spike some good games from an assists perspective down the stretch, but that’s about all there is here for fantasy purposes.

Traoré was initially questionable for Sunday’s game. Ben Saraf has served as the starting point guard in recent games, so Traoré’s absence would not change anything there.

Available for Sunday’s season finale, Agbaji has not played in four of the Nets’ last five games. He isn’t guaranteed to get rotation minutes, so managers in active fantasy leagues should leave Agbaji on the waiver wire.