It’s no secret that the Brooklyn Nets will be a struggling team to start the 2024-25 NBA season. After trading star forward Mikal Bridges in June, a move that many saw coming in short order, Brooklyn made Cam Thomas the center of its organization, surrounding him with young draft picks and a new coach in Jordi Fernandez.
Other veterans surround the 22-year-old star, but there is speculation that some will be traded before the season begins.
While many fans are happy that the team decided to start fresh, the rebuild was long overdue. If the Nets hadn’t waited to trade their most valuable piece, they wouldn’t have been a year behind.
Brooklyn was supposed to start the rebuild after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at the 2022-23 trade deadline. The Nets played the rest of the season with Bridges as the star, but were ultimately swept by the Philadelphia 76ers, while finishing the regular season with a 13-15 record after the trade deadline.
It was clear that despite Bridges averaging 26.1 points in 27 games with the Nets, the team was in decline. So they decided to go all out to win with Bridges, Cameron Johnson and other veterans all last season, resulting in a 32-50 record.
Brooklyn had the opportunity to sell its most valuable assets for the future, but chose not to. The defense’s argument is that the Nets did not own their 2024 first-round pick, as it belonged to the Rockets. However, it was reported by Shams Charania that Houston gave the Nets Jalen Green (a young star) and several firsts for Bridges, one of which could have been theirs.
It seemed like Brooklyn had plenty of opportunities to start fresh and rebuild the right way, but after Joe Tsai and Sean Marks declined after a first-round exit in 2023, and multiple opportunities in 2024, they finally pulled the trigger in June. Now, the Nets have an abundance of draft picks and young talent to build around.
The six first-round picks the New York Knicks gave up for Bridges will have varying consequences. Some belong to playoff teams, while others could lead to lottery picks later. Did that flurry of draft picks make up for the Nets waiting so long to rebuild?
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