Getty Patty Mills celebrates after making a three-point shot during a May 12 game against the Brooklyn Nets.
The NBA’s free agency period is officially underway, and with a championship on the mind, the Brooklyn Nets are fortifying their roster ahead of next season.
Sean Marks’ first strike this summer was bringing back six-time All-Star Blake Griffin on a one-year deal.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first with reports:
Six-time All-Star F Blake Griffin has agreed on a one-year deal to stay with the Brooklyn Nets, his agent Sam Goldfeder of @excelbasketball tells ESPN.
Now, Marks is bringing a name from the outside, in.
And he’s beating out the competition.
Longtime San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills is signing a two-year, $12-million deal with the Brooklyn Nets.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was also first with those reports:
Free agent G Patty Mills has agreed to a two-year, $12M deal with the Brooklyn Nets, his agent Steven Heumann of @CAA_Basketball tells ESPN. Deal includes a player option.
Mills averaged 10.8 points, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 rebounds per game last season with the Spurs.
But the Nets weren’t the only team vying for his services in free agency.
Patty Mills ‘Chose Nets Over Lakers’
As is mentioned in Adrian Wojnarowski’s tweet, Patty Mills turned down other offers to join the Brooklyn Nets.
NBA insider Marc Stein followed up that report with just who he may have told no to:
Patty Mills chooses the Nets over the Lakers, @espn says
The Los Angeles Lakers were also in the market for a backup point guard, and have since settled on Kendrick Nunn.
Look for Mills to slide into that role with the Nets, and provide some much-needed defensive aptitude and shooting.
The 32-year old guard shot 41% on catch-and-shoot threes last year, opportunities he’ll see even more of in Brooklyn.
If anything, perhaps this feeds into the fire that fans are hoping could soon become a rivalry between the two teams.
Nets Lose Jeff Green to Denver
Signing forward Blake Griffin helps to bolster the Brooklyn Nets’ depth, which also took a hit on Monday.
Utility veteran Jeff Green left the Borough for greener pastures in the Mile High City.
ESPN’s Malika Andrews is reporting that he’ll sign a two-year, $10-million deal with the Denver Nuggets.
Free agent forward/center Jeff Green has agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with the Denver Nuggets, his agent Jason Glushon of @GlushonSM tells ESPN. The deal includes a player option in the second year.
Green, who averaged 11 points off the bench for Brooklyn, will chase a championship with the reigning MVP.
And he’s not the only Nets’ free agent that could be headed elsewhere this summer.
Dinwiddie’s Future Still Undecided
The news of the Patty Mills signing sent a wave of relief throughout the entire Brooklyn Nets fanbase.
Because up until that point, they didn’t have a backup point guard even penciled in for the 2021-2022 season.
And given Kyrie Iriving’s injury concerns, can you really blame them?
At one point there was likely some hope that Spencer Dinwiddie would return and fill that role.
But even now, with two days of free agency done and the 28-year old still unsigned, it’s not a real possibility.
Dinwiddie is coming off of an ACL injury that sidelined him almost all of last season, but before that, had experienced a career year in 2019-2020 when he averaged 20.6 points and 6.8 assists per game.
It’s unclear why he remains unsigned, with the Washington Wizards looming as the most likely landing spot, but perhaps it’s because he and the Brooklyn Nets are trying to work the details of a sign-and-trade.
Dinwiddie arrived on this team as an unknown, as a fringe NBA player.
But in these four seasons and change, he’s grown into one of the best downhill scorers at his position, and a near-starting caliber point guard, his current health pending.
If this is it for Spencer Dinwiddie and the Brooklyn Nets, and it likely is, then there isn’t anything that could disprove Sean Marks’ logic/strategy of signing Patty Mills.
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