Nets guarantee Royce O’Neale’s expiring contract in expected move

LAS VEGAS — The Nets fully guaranteed the expiring contract of Royce O’Neale on Monday, as expected.

O’Neale, who recently turned 30, expressed his gratitude on Twitter.

The news — first reported by Hoopshype and confirmed by The Post — was largely viewed as a fait accompli.

O’Neale cost the Nets a first-round pick to acquire last offseason, and quickly became a favorite of coach Jacque Vaughn.

O’Neale was among the league leaders in minutes logged through the first half of the season.

Brooklyn turned down a first-round pick for O’Neale before the trade deadline, and reportedly had received similar offers this summer despite having lost his starting role after the arrival of wings Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith in February.

O’Neale’s deal had been partially guaranteed at $2.5 million through Monday, but is now fully guaranteed at $9.5 million for the coming season.

Brooklyn could now also move the 3-point defensive specialist in a trade if it so chooses.

O’Neale and Finney-Smith have been the subject of trade rumors.

Brooklyn will still have a standard roster spot open even after guaranteeing O’Neale and following the upcoming signings of free agent Lonnie Walker IV and rookie first-round picks Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead. (Second-rounder Jalen Wilson is on a two-way, and does not count against the cap).

Armoni Brooks had a team-high 21 points and game-high tying three steals to lead Brooklyn’s 98-80 summer league win over the Knicks on Sunday.

Brooks shot 5-for-10 from 3-point range after going 5-for-9 in Friday’s opening loss to Cleveland.

Nets assistant Trevor Hendry, serving as head coach of the summer league squad, had been impressed with Brooks’ stroke heading into Tuesday’s tilt against the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Yeah, I tell him all the time, shoot as many 3s as you can over the course of the game,” said Hendry. “I mean, he shot 10 (against the Knicks). I’ll tell him to shoot 15 on Tuesday. That’s how good of a shooter he is. And that’s how much we trust him on the offensive end. Every time he lets it go from 3, I think it’s going in.”

Wilson added 18 points and eight boards with a mature game that belies his rookie status.

Diminutive point guard Kennedy Chandler added 11 points and seven assists, looking much more comfortable in the drive-and-kick game than he had in the opening loss to the Cavaliers.

“He was great,” Hendry said of Chandler. “I thought he struggled a little bit at times in the first game, but just his ability to attack the rim and get on top of the rim was something that he continues to do at a at a at a great rate.

“He did a good job (vs. the Knicks) of spraying that thing out. He was getting into the paint and he was kicking out. I thought the other day maybe he took an extra dribble when he should’ve kicked it out earlier. So he was better getting in the paint, collapsing the defense and kicking it out.”