Why Nets waived David Muoka a day after signing the big man

David Muoka is already gone from Brooklyn. But he might not be gone from the Nets.

A day after Brooklyn signed Muoka to a standard contract, they announced they had waived the young big man on Tuesday afternoon. It created the roster space they needed to complete a trade for guard Kobe Bufkin.

A league source told the Post that Muoka is likely to land with G League affiliate Long Island, where he has played previously.

The Nets had even signed Muoka’s contract in a way to make such a reunion possible.

Brooklyn, like all other teams, must get down to 15 standard contracts by Opening Night, along with three two-way deals. Right now they’re overcrowded with 15 guaranteed contracts, four more non-guaranteed deals and two two-ways.

(They are reportedly adding Fanbo Zeng and Ricky Council IV as well).

Brooklyn not only has to pare down their roster by the end of training camp, they also have to manage the salary cap to best maximize their cap space.

Up to this point, Nets general manager Sean Marks has used his league-high cap space to take four salary dumps — Michael Porter Jr., Haywood Highsmith, Terance Mann and now Bufkin.

The former trio brought back future draft assets, while the latter came as a devalued 21-year-old prospect, the 15th overall pick in 2023.

Atlanta needed to get rid of Bufkin to clear both roster room and cap space, and the Nets added the combo guard in an upside play that helps them get closer to the required $139.2 million salary floor.

He will earn $4.5 million this season and the Nets hold a team option for 2026-27 that’d have to pick up by Oct. 31.

Brooklyn has $11.5 million in cap space left, though they could push that up to $20.15 million by waiving all of their non-guaranteed players.

Marks still could be looking for one more salary dump, likely a minimum-salaried player to reach the salary floor according to cap analyst Yossi Gozlan.

When Brooklyn had signed Muoka, they inked him to a non-guaranteed one-year deal rather than an Exhibit 10 contract, which is essentially a training camp invite.

The deal was worth the rookie minimum with a $85,300 partial guarantee, according to Gozlan. That was the maximum guaranteed amount Brooklyn could’ve given Muoka while keeping both his two-way eligibility with them as well as keeping the big man eligible to play for G League Long Island.

Muoka played 38 games for Long Island back in 2023-24, averaging 4.6 points, 4.8 boards and 1.3 blocks in 14.7 minutes.

He played in Las Vegas Summer League with Brooklyn a year ago.

The Nets currently have a pair of two-ways under contract in Tyson Etienne and E.J. Liddell, with one spot open.

That last spot could be filled by Zeng, who is currently in New York.