Officially terminated! The No. 1 high school student in the United States! Officially waived by the NBA

The Brooklyn Nets officially announced: The team has officially waived Darrick Whitehead. There are two years left on his contract, with an annual salary of US$3.3 million in the 2025-26 season. The Nets have converted to a guaranteed contract; an annual salary of US$5.36 million in the 2026-27 season, a team option. In other words, the Nets only need to pay Whitehead $3.3 million to terminate the contract.

Currently, the Nets still have 17 official contracts. Before the start of the new season, two more people must be laid off. Whitehead was born on August 1, 2004, and is the No. 22 pick in the first round of 2023. The Nets only trained him for two years before deciding to give up on this 21-year-old genius. You know, before entering college, Whitehead was "the number one high school student in the United States."

Darrick Whitehead is 2.01 meters tall and has a wingspan of 2.08 meters. He is a swingman at forward and guard. Whitehead High School attended the famous basketball school Montverde Academy. The draft website Rivals ranked him first in the United States, ESPN ranked him second in the United States, and 247sports ranked him third in the United States. All in all, Whitehead is the top high school student in the class of 2022.

Whitehead received invitations from the University of Kansas, Florida State University, Duke University and the Ignite, and ultimately he chose Duke University. In the summer of 2022, before Whitehead entered college, he suffered a Jones fracture of his right foot, which is a fracture of the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. What is even more distressing is that the first operation failed in August 2022.

In the 2022-23 season, Whitehead played 28 games at Duke University, including 7 starts. He averaged 20.1 minutes per game, 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 0.8 steals. His three shooting percentages were: 40.8%, 41.1%, and 88.5%. In June 2023, before the draft, Whitehead underwent surgery on his right foot for the second time.

Two surgeries on the same position caused Whitehead's draft stock to plummet. In the 2023 draft, he was eventually selected by the Nets with the 22nd overall pick in the first round. In his rookie season, Whitehead only played 2 games, averaging 12 minutes per game, scoring 1.5 points, 2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 0.5 blocks. His three shooting percentages were: 20%, 0%, and 50%.

On January 29, 2024, Whitehead also underwent surgery on his other leg to resolve the stress reaction of his left tibia. In the 2024-25 season, Whitehead only played 20 games, averaging 12.3 minutes per game, scoring 5.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 0.8 turnovers. His three shooting percentages were: 40.6%, 44.6%, and 60%.

The Nets originally wanted to pick up the 22nd pick, but they didn't expect that after waiting for two years, Whitehead only played 22 games. The Nets gave up on this "lottery" and decided to train other young people. It is a pity for many teams that a first-round pick was given up after just two years of playing. But it doesn't matter to the Nets, because they don't lack first-round picks.

In the 2025 NBA Draft, the Nets have 5 first-round picks. The Nets did not package these first-round picks and trade them up, but used all five first-round picks: No. 8 pick Yegor Jemin, No. 19 pick Nolan Traore, No. 21 pick Derek Bowie, No. 26 pick Ben Saraf, No. 27 pick Danny Wolf.

Last question: What do you think of the Nets' draft vision in the past two years?