THE Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are entering their first year of rebuilding, and as a result, the franchise’s priorities have shifted toward player development. After trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks last month for five first-round picks and three players, Brooklyn is projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA next season.
While no fan wants to see their team be bad enough to be in a position to win the first overall pick in the NBA draft, the Nets are in a position where they will struggle to win games, but developing their young talent is more important at this point in the organization’s life cycle. Ultimately, Brooklyn failed to find other star players after the Big 3 split and the franchise ultimately made the right choice by choosing to start from scratch.
The full schedule for the 2024-25 season was recently released released And now each team knows who they’ll be playing and what kind of obstacles await them. For the Nets, here are five games fans can look forward to in what’s shaping up to be a tough year in terms of league competition:
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
To start off the list, this is none other than Mikal Bridges’ first time back at Barclays Center as a member of the Knicks. Much has been made of Bridges’ 1.5 years with the franchise and with the Nets looking to Bridges to begin their rebuild, Brooklyn could have mixed reactions to his return in January. It’s also possible that Bridges will be met with applause given that he did what he could as the team’s best player, but also met with boos for how disappointing the 2023-24 season will be for everyone involved. Not to mention, this game will also be played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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This game probably won’t matter much other than it’s the Nets’ season opener. The Hawks are in a period of reorganization rather than rebuilding, and Atlanta should be a team that’s in contention for the play-in tournament, a similar spot they held last season with Brooklyn. This will be the first chance for Nets fans to see Cam Thomas, Nic Claxton and company in action, and it could be a game full of goals.
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The obvious significance of this game is that it will be the Nets’ home opener and the hope is that the team can be competitive enough in front of their home crowd against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. One could argue that a home game against the Bucks last year was the beginning of the end for Brooklyn’s playoff run, as it all went downhill from there, but for this season it could also be a point of reflection on how the young players stack up against elite competition.
Cory Knowlton-USA TODAY Sports
The Nets, in a similar position to the Hornets in terms of rebuilding, would have a matchup against an opponent with promising young talent on their side to match what Brooklyn has. This will also be Brooklyn’s second group stage game of the 2024 NBA Cup, so this matchup could have some added motivation on both teams’ part as the young players could see the opportunity to go far enough in the tournament to earn some extra cash or, at the very least, run up the score without being penalized for it due to the nature of the NBA Cup.
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Not only will Nets fans get to see Nic Claxton take on Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama at Barclays Center, but it will also be a chance for everyone to see Cam Thomas take on Chris Paul and possibly rookie Stephon Castle. As with most of these games, the outcome won’t matter outside of how a few players perform, especially in a game that will most likely feature two teams looking for high draft picks in next year’s draft as well.
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