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On paper, many fans should feel excited for the Brooklyn Nets' 2025-26 season and beyond. It's rare that a team gets multiple first-round picks in the NBA Draft, and the Nets managed to acquire a league record of five.
However, with Brooklyn expected to finish even lower in the standings this season, many are questioning the team's selections of Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. Unless Michael Porter Jr. shows huge improvement as the No. 1 scoring option, the Nets still lack a star outside of restricted free agent Cam Thomas.
The Ringer's Justin Verrier Believes the Nets are Just Fine
The recent moves from the Nets have led to many people criticizing the organization's summer performance. However, Justin Verrier of The Ringer believes Brooklyn had a "perfectly solid offseason."
"Selecting five players in the first round of the draft was admittedly extreme—especially since most are of the same type: creators with iffy shooting histories," Verrier wrote. "But the 2025-26 season was always going to be another bridge year in Brooklyn; even if the Nets somehow traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo, their roster would’ve been more bereft than what the former MVP has in Milwaukee.
"Overstuffing the rotation with young fliers, taking on bad contracts (of serviceable, re-flippable wings in Terance Mann and Michael Porter Jr.) for extra draft capital, and leveraging cap space for free rotation players won’t change the big-picture priority of banking the best lottery odds in a purportedly star-studded 2026 draft."
Brooklyn's Offseason is Just a Piece of the Puzzle
What many fail to realize is that this offseason, whether a win or a loss for the organization, is just a small fraction of the rebuild. This summer was certainly a big one for the Nets, but 2026, with another highly regarded draft class and a plethora of stars potentially available, could end up being even bigger.
What Brooklyn did over the last few months was allocate draft capital, bring in young faces and save money. Even after trading for both Porter and Haywood Highsmith, the Nets have plenty of cap space for the foreseeable future.
The expectation is that Cam Thomas returns to the Nets on the qualifying offer. Brooklyn hasn't shown interest in his desired $25-30 million per year.
— Jed Katz (@jedkatzNBA) July 24, 2025
Brooklyn will likely have Thomas back for either $5.99 million or that offer if he hasn't formally declined it already. https://t.co/8Ncl3vhGwM
While Thomas remaining unsigned has angered many fans, the organization is smart not to give him a massive deal right now. Due to the league's salary cap and questions about his overall game, no other team has reported interest, which means Brooklyn has all the leverage. The 23-year-old is expected to take the qualifying offer and play for just about $6 million this season.
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