NBA Rumors: Nets, 76ers to Push for Otto Porter, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers are reportedly planning to make a significant push for Washington Wizards forward Otto Porter and Detroit Pistons guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency.

Marc Stein of ESPN noted Friday both the Wizards and Pistons are "bracing" for the Nets to make lucrative offers to the restricted free agents.

Keith Smith of RealGM noted the 76ers will also join the hunt if they're unable to sign J.J. Redick.

Brooklyn heads into the open market with the potential to make serious noise thanks to a league-leading $21.9 million in space under the salary cap, per Spotrac.

Porter is coming off the most complete season of his four-year career. He averaged 13.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 51.6 percent from the field, including 43.4 percent from beyond the arc, across 80 games for the Wizards.

The 24-year-old Georgetown product told J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic in May he wasn't going to worry about his next contract. Instead, he's focused on continuing the improvement he knew would eventually come despite a slow start to his NBA career.

"It is what it is. I'm going to continue what I've been doing. Continue to work. If everything works itself out, it will," Porter said. "A lot of people are surprised but with me, it's like, 'I saw this coming a long time ago.'"

Meanwhile, Caldwell-Pope has flashed the potential to become an offensive force if he can be a little more consistent with his shooting stroke. He checked in at 13.8 points per game for the Pistons last season and knocked down 2.0 threes per contest.

He was asked back in February whether he thought his play elevated to a max-contract level. He said all he could do was keep trying to showcase his talent and upside, per Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.

"I see myself as what I'm worth," Caldwell-Pope said. "If they see me as a max player, then that's what I'm worth. If not, then I guess I'm not worth a max player. I gotta just go out and prove myself and just show like what I can do on the court, be a great teammate, give great energy each and every night and let them decide if I'm a max player or not."

Ultimately, the Nets are in desperate need of more young building blocks. Both Porter and Caldwell-Pope would begin the process of filling that void and, perhaps in a perfect world, landing them both would go a long way to speed up the rebuilding process.