Nets Can't Lose Focus of Long-Term Goals Amid Tanking

The Brooklyn Nets are among the top contenders to land the top pick in the draft next season, but they must be careful about tanking.

The Nets enter next season with one of the youngest squads in the league. After taking five players in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, they will have no shortage of young players looking to make their mark in the league.

Under Jordi Fernandez, who is entering his second season in Brooklyn, the Nets will be hoping for his development plan to have an encouraging start. While the Nets have some key veterans on the roster as well, getting the right amount of playing time for their rookies will be imperative.

Of course, that doesn’t simply mean thrusting the rookie class into bad situations under the guise of getting experience. Instead, Fernandez has to do his best to make sure his players are prepared for the numerous situations that they will see at this level.

Going into next season, the general mantra for Brooklyn will be “process over results.” Obviously, that makes sense, given that the Nets aren’t exactly interested in competing for a playoff spot, but that phrase has more than one meaning.

“Process over results” is typically used as a way of conveying that development is more important than winning, but for Brooklyn’s case next season, it must also mean that development is more important than losing. Sure, Brooklyn’s goal will be to enter the draft lottery with the best odds possible, but that shouldn’t come from putting the roster in bad situations, especially the rookies.

There will certainly be some avenues Brooklyn could travel that result in a season below 20 wins. And maybe the team will end up there anyway, given its talent deficit compared to the rest of the league.

However, the Nets shouldn’t simply tank shamelessly at every turn next season. They have five first-round picks from 2025, and ideally, some of those players will become key contributors for Brooklyn in the future.

For the Nets to figure out who those players might be in year one, they will need to prioritize development and put that rookie class in the best situation to succeed, which will often include playing with veterans and playing winning basketball. Sure, that formula could easily lead to some more wins that push the Nets down the lottery odds again, but they shouldn’t sacrifice development when they’ll be relying on ping pong balls anyway.