Brooklyn Nets have decided against extending a qualifying offer to fourth-year forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. That means the versatile 24-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent in July.
Had the Nets extended a qualifying offer, Hollis-Jefferson would be considered a restricted free agent but the team would have had to accommodate a $7.4 million cap hit while they awaited Hollis-Jefferson’s fate.
That may seem like a negligible cost of business when courting a versatile defender that’s developed consistently in Brooklyn’s system but with the Nets very much in position to land two max free agents this summer, they need all the room they can get.
To be clear, there’s nothing stopping Brooklyn from re-signing Hollis-Jefferson as an unrestricted free agent if they aren’t successful inking a pair of max free agents.
Hollis-Jefferson averaged 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the Nets in 2018-19, figures notably lower than what he posted in 2017-18, but the forward should still draw considerable interest on the open market.
Hollis-Jefferson averaged 13.3 points per game for the Nets in the postseason this year, despite playing just 15.5 minutes per contest.
