Nets Looking to Avoid Mediocrity as Rebuild Enters Next Phase

The Brooklyn Nets are in one of the most interesting situations in the league, and they need to ensure things don’t go south.

In the NBA, it’s the goal to be great, and being good is just fine, but even being bad can work out. However, anywhere in between can put a team in a directionless cycle of misfortune, and Brooklyn is teetering on the edge of that mediocrity.

Of course, the Nets shouldn’t have to worry about that immediately. This season, the Nets are projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, and that could lead to a high pick in the 2026 draft.

As seen with the Dallas Mavericks, who secured the top pick this summer despite making the play-in last season, lottery luck isn’t always there for the worst teams. Brooklyn saw it first-hand just a few months ago, entering with the sixth-best odds and leaving with the No. 8 pick. Add in the other four first-rounders that Brooklyn used, and Sean Marks has built a young core that might be capable of something special in the future.

Of course, given where all of those players were taken throughout the first round, it’s not the likeliest scenario that one of them will blossom into a franchise player or even become an All-Star. Maybe Brooklyn will get lucky and have a couple of its picks pan out incredibly well, but it’s rare that teams get that type of fortune.

Instead, the Nets will likely be relying on the upcoming draft cycle to produce the player who will lead the franchise for the foreseeable future. That means tanking next season away, no matter how shameless it ends up looking.

Most of that is because of Brooklyn’s sped-up timeline, thanks to the Houston Rockets owning swap rights in 2027. Without that pick, the Nets would have to effectively decide to end the rebuild after this season or drag it out at least three years.

Assuming the Nets don’t want to have a “rebuild” season without their own pick, it would make sense for them to go for a winning formula in 2026-227. However, that could lead them straight to the middle of the pack for the foreseeable future without a clear franchise player. 

While depth is important, superstars still run the league. And without one in the near future, the Nets could be facing a long period being stuck in the league’s most dreaded position.