The Brooklyn Nets requested waivers on point guard Jarrett Jack on Thursday afternoon.
The Nets were set to pay Jack $6.3 million for next season, but the Nets had until Thursday night to waive him and owe him only $500,000. The Nets will stretch that over three years to save every bit of cap room.
Jack saw action in 112 games over two seasons with Brooklyn, posting averages of 12.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 29.2 minutes per game. This past season, Jack appeared in and started 32 games, averaging 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 32.1 minutes per game before suffering a season-ending right knee injury on January 2.
An 11-year NBA veteran, Jack has played in 803 career games with Portland, Indiana, Toronto, New Orleans, Golden State, Cleveland and Brooklyn, recording averages of 11.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 28.1 minutes per game.
With Jack out of the picture, the Nets can now target Charlotte’s Jeremy Lin or Sacramento’s Rajon Rondo.
Lin has a connection to Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson from their days with the Knicks.
Atkinson was an assistant coach in 2012 who took Lin under his wing and created the Linsanity phenomenon.
Lin left the Knicks for the Rockets in 2012, and he played two seasons there before moving on to the Lakers for the 2014-15 season, and spent last year with Charlotte.
Last season, Lin averaged 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, right in line with his career averages of 11.7 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game.
Rondo spent most of his career with the Boston Celtics, and was part of their World Championship team in 2008.
Boston traded Rondo to Dallas at the end of the 2014-15 season, and it did not go well there at all, so he signed a one-year deal with the Sacramento Kings.
Last season, Rondo averaged a double-double, with 11.9 points, 11.7 assists, and 6.0 rebounds per game.