In just two years, the Nets went from being a playoff contender with Kevin Durant, to being one of the league’s rebuilding teams, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. When the Nets had Durant, Oklahoma City, Houston and Orlando were among the teams with the worst records, all of which are top teams in their respective conference. That’s a testament to how fast the league moves, and those young contenders can serve as a blueprint and inspire confidence for Brooklyn’s own rebuild, Lewis writes.
“Yeah, we’ll get back to that point,” Nic Claxton said. “I don’t like to think back about the past. You grow from it, you learn from it, but you want to be in the present and just keep growing in the group that we have now.”
Only Claxton, Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe remain from the Durant era. The Nets have made a concerted effort to get younger, trading away Mikal Bridges over the summer and moving Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith for draft capital. Brooklyn looks to be evaluating all their young players currently on the roster with an eye toward the 2025 draft for improvement.
“To be frank, you’ve still got to get a little lucky. We all know that,” general manager Sean Marks said. “The hot-button topic has always been the draft. We all know we’ve still got to get lucky. At the end of the day, the Ping-Pong balls are going to drop a certain way. … [And] it’s health, right? It doesn’t matter what team you have, you could have the best players in the world, they’ve got to stay healthy. And you’ve got to be healthy at the right time. We’ve lived that. Some things you can control, others you can’t.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Cameron Johnson hasn’t played in a week after suffering an ankle sprain, but head coach Jordi Fernandez suggested he thinks Johnson won’t miss much longer and should return during the team’s current six-game road stretch, Bridget Reilly of the New York Post writes. The Nets are being patient in their approach with Johnson, who has been one of the bright spots on the team while averaging a career-high 19.5 points while shooting 43.6% from deep. Johnson’s name has repeatedly come up in trade rumors this year.
- Several teams have Raptors forward Chris Boucher on their radar ahead of the trade deadline, SNY’s Ian Begley reports. Begley writes that some within the Nuggets organization in particular are fans of his. Boucher entered Thursday averaging 9.9 points and 4.7 rebounds, but only played nine minutes combined in his last two games entering Thursday. He’s only appearing in 17.1 minutes per game on the season. However, he received first quarter minutes on Thursday and scored 23 points and 12 rebounds.
- Guerschon Yabusele‘s energy and effort have made him a perfect fit for the Sixers, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. While it’s been far from a perfect season for Philadelphia, Yabusele continues to be a bright point while averaging 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds after not being in the league since the 2018/19 season.
- As part of injury management measures, Sixers star Joel Embiid hasn’t played in back-to-backs this season, something the Sixers are aiming to change in the near future, Pompey writes in another story. Embiid previously stated he might not play in back-to-backs for the rest of his career, something he backed off of later.