Despite a string of impressive performances toward the end of the regular season, and a strong showing at NBA Summer League, Drew Timme won’t have a chance to build on his momentum with the Brooklyn Nets after the former Gonzaga standout was waived by the organization on Monday.
Along with Timme, the Nets waived guard Dariq Whitehead on Monday, roughly a week before the start of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Teams are only allowed to carry 18 players – 15 on standard contracts and three two-way contracts – and Timme faced an uphill battle on a Brooklyn team that’s building around a young core after selecting five players in the 2025 NBA Draft, including four in the first round.
Timme was widely considered to be the team’s fourth option at center, behind projected starter Nic Claxton, backup Day’Ron Sharpe and rookie Danny Wolf, the former Yale and Michigan star who was taken with the 27th overall pick of the 2025 Draft.
Still, Gonzaga’s career scoring leader made a case for himself after earning a call up to Brooklyn last season. Timme was averaging 23.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists for the G League Long Island Nets when Brooklyn added him to the roster for the final nine games of the regular season.
Logging 28.2 minutes per game during that stretch, Timme averaged 12.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 2.2 apg while shooting 44% from the field. He posted an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double against in his debut against the Los Angeles Clippers and followed with a season-high 19 points in a 115-112 victory over former GU teammate Corey Kispert and the Washington Wizards. Timme closed with double-double efforts in two of his final three games for a Brooklyn team that missed the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Building on his run at the end of the regular season, Timme paced a young Nets team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 25.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists over three games. Timme’s scoring average ranked second behind Utah’s Kyle Filipowski (29.3 ppg) at Summer League and he was top 15 in rebounding before being shut down after Brooklyn’s third game.
Despite earning All-American honors in three straight seasons at Gonzaga, Timme went undrafted in 2023 and joined the Milwaukee Bucks on an undrafted free agent deal, only appearing for the G League Wisconsin Herd before undergoing season-ending surgery for a left foot fracture.
After playing sparingly and posting modest scoring numbers with the Sacramento Kings’ G League affiliate last season, Timme was traded to the Long Island Nets on Dec. 30, 2024.
He’s now eligible to be picked up on waivers before regular-season games begin Oct. 21.
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