The Long Island Nets had a busy Tuesday, acquiring rights to two players in two separate trades, including Yuri Collins, the G League’s leader in assists last year.
With the NBA G League season quickly approaching, teams are beginning to take shape. While it’s still early, Long Island has made a few moves so far this offseason, including moving some big players’ returning rights, such as Kendall Brown. However, arguably the biggest return for Long Island came on Tuesday as they acquired returning player rights for Collins.
In the second of the two trades, the Long Island team acquired Collins from the Santa Cruz Warriors in exchange for a first-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2026 NBA G League Draft. This move could prove to be big this offseason for Long Island as they have picked up one of the best play makers in the entire NBA G League.
Collins, who stands at 6-foot, appeared in 49 games last season between the NBA G League Tip-Off Tournament and the regular season. He averaged 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 10.2 assists, and 1.3 steals in 32.2 minutes per game. His 10.8 assists per game in the regular season alone led the NBA G League. He ranked third in the league in assists per game during the Tip-Off Tournament as well with 8.9.
Collins could be filling some big shoes left by Killian Hayes. Hayes quickly became one of the best playmakers for the Long Island last year, and Collins looks to continue that string. Similar to Hayes, Collins also earned an NBA G League call-up last season, signing a 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors.
He appeared in two NBA games, averaging 1.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 steals in 8.0 minutes per contest. Despite the small sample size, this experience is more than valuable when joining a new G League team. Collins also played for the Phoenix Suns Summer League team. Collins played for Santa Cruz in the 2023-24 season as well, appearing in 50 games. Back then, he only averaged 5.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 22.2 minutes per game.
Before his time in the G League chasing his NBA dream, Collins played four years of college ball at Saint Louis University. He led the NCAA in total assists and assists per game in both his junior and senior seasons. He even earned an AP Honorable Mention All-American honors in his final season with the Billikens.
In the first trade of the day, Long Island acquired returning player rights for Malachi Smith from the Memphis Hustle, in exchange for their returning player rights for Jordan Minor and a first round pick in the 2026 NBA G League Draft.
Smith stands at 6-foot-4 and appeared in 46 NBA G League Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the Hustle. He averaged 11.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 25.3 minutes per game. He shot a respectable 50.1 percent from the field. This is a percentage that went up from the previous year (43.3%.)
Smith played college ball for Gonzaga for one year in 2022-23 when he teamed with Drew Timme, now with Brooklyn after spending most of last season in Long Island. In that one year, he earned West Coast Conference Sixth Man of the Year honors. He also played three years of college ball before that at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga (2020-22) and one season at Wright State (2018-19).
As for Minor, he developed quite well on Long Island, taking over where Timme left off when Timme got called up to the big club. Minor appeared in 42 NBA G League Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the Nets last season. He averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per contest. He made his presence felt on Long Island after having a successful tryout.
The Long Island roster is beginning to take shape. Some of the big club’s rookies, and players like Fanbo Zeng and Grant Nelson, could be placed in the G League for the time being. A big rookie who could see a lot of time on the G League club is Drake Powell, who will be recovering from a minor left knee injury.
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