The Brooklyn Nets renounced the free agent rights to LaMarcus Aldridge.
Yes, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
Contract expert Keith Smith shared the news on X as part of a whole list of names:
"As part of the process to complete their offseason moves, the Brooklyn Nets renounced FA rights for LaMarcus Aldridge, Wilson Chandler, Mike James, De'Anthony Melton, Dennis Smith Jr and Ziaire Williams. Brooklyn will re-sign Williams with either cap space or the Room Exception."
Commenters were quickly confused.
Aldridge hasn't played in the NBA since 2022. For Chandler, it's been since 2020.
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Smith clarified that basically, a team has no incentive to renounce the free agent rights to a player that retires.
Now, with so much time passed, the Nets are essentially just clearing off their books a little. It doesn't have a real impact on the salary cap. It's just record-keeping.
So you can return to your regularly scheduled programming. Aldridge's beautiful, over-the-head, mid-range jumper isn't coming back to the league. He's probably just cooking some regular folks at the Y with his old-man game at this point.
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