Brooklyn Nets


The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Barclays Center. They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City; the other is the New York Knicks. The club was established in 1967 as a charter franchise of the NBA's rival league, the American Basketball Association. They played in New Jersey as the New Jersey Americans during their first season, before relocating to Long Island, New York, in 1968 and changing their name to the New York Nets. During this time, the Nets won two ABA championships. In 1976, the ABA merged with the NBA, and the Nets were absorbed into the NBA along with three other ABA teams, all of whom remain in the league to this day.
In 1977, the team returned to New Jersey and played as the New Jersey Nets from 1977 to 2012. During this period, the Nets won two consecutive Eastern Conference championships, but failed to win a league title. In the summer of 2012, the team moved to Barclays Center, and took its current geographic name.

History

The Brooklyn Nets were founded in 1967 as the ‘New Jersey Americans’ and initially played in Teaneck, New Jersey, as the New Jersey Americans. In its early years, the team led a nomadic existence, moving to Long Island in 1968 and playing in various arenas there as the New York Nets.
Led by Hall of Famer Julius "Dr. J" Erving, the Nets won two ABA championships in New York before becoming one of four ABA teams to be admitted into the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. Unlike the other three ABA teams entering the NBA, who played in cities without any NBA presence, the Nets were required by the NBA to pay an "encroachment fee" of $4.8 million to the New York Knicks. The team financed that payment by selling Erving's contract to the Philadelphia 76ers; and the Nets went from winning the last ABA title in 1975–76 to having the worst record in the NBA in 1976–77. The team then moved back to New Jersey in 1977 and became the New Jersey Nets. During their time in the state, the Nets played in two consecutive NBA Finals in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons by teams led by point guard Jason Kidd.
After playing 35 seasons in New Jersey, the team moved back to the state of New York, changed its geographic name to Brooklyn, and began playing in the new Barclays Center, starting with the 2012–13 NBA season.

Rivalries

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics were once rivals of the Nets during the early 2000s because of their respective locations and their burgeoning stars. The Nets were led by Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, while the Celtics were experiencing newfound success behind Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. The rivalry began to heat up in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, which was preceded by trash-talking from the Celtics who claimed Martin was a "fake" tough guy. Things progressed as the series started, and on-court tensions seemed to spill into the stands. Celtic fans berated Kidd and his family with chants of "Wife Beater!" in response to Kidd's 2001 domestic abuse charge. When the series returned to New Jersey, Nets fans responded, with some brandishing signs that read "Will someone please stab Paul Pierce?" referring to a night club incident in 2000 in which Pierce was stabbed 11 times. When asked about the fan barbs being traded, Kenyon Martin stated, "Our fans hate them, their fans hate us." Bill Walton said at the time that Nets-Celtics was the "beginning of the next great NBA rivalry" during the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002. Led by Kidd, the Nets advanced to the NBA Finals, and the following year, swept Boston in the 2003 playoffs.
On November 28, 2012, there were indications that the rivalry might be rekindled when an altercation occurred on the court, resulting in the ejection of Rajon Rondo, Gerald Wallace, and Kris Humphries. Rondo was suspended for two games in the aftermath, while Wallace and Kevin Garnett were fined. The story was revisited on December 25, when Wallace grabbed Garnett's shorts and the two had to be broken up by referees and players alike.
However, the rivalry between the Nets and the Celtics appeared significantly cooled off by the June 2013 blockbuster trade that dealt Celtics stars Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets in exchange for Wallace, Humphries, and others. This move was billed as a merger of the two Atlantic Division teams. Celtics announcer Sean Grande said, "It's almost as if you found a great home for these guys. You couldn't have found a better place. These guys will be in the New York market, they'll be on a competitive team, they'll stay on national TV. It's funny, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So with Celtics fans feeling the way they do about the Heat, feeling the way they do about the Knicks, the Nets are going to become almost the second team now."
In the 2019 NBA off-season, the Nets signed point guard Kyrie Irving. Irving coming off two seasons with the Celtics was described as selfish by many critics. This impression caused many Celtics fans to blame Irving for the Celtics' inability to get through to the playoffs.
During a regular season game in the 2019–20 season between the Celtics and Nets, the Celtics' fans displayed their displeasure of Irving by chanting "Kyrie sucks" in TD Garden. When the series returned to Brooklyn two days later, the Nets' fans chanted "Kyrie's better" in response to the chants in Boston. The "Kyrie's Better" chants reference to how the Celtics signed Kemba Walker after Irving left for the Nets.

New York Knicks

The Knicks–Nets rivalry has historically been a geographical one, with the Knicks playing in Madison Square Garden in the New York City borough of Manhattan, while the Nets played in the suburban area of Long Island and in New Jersey, and since 2012 have been playing at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Media outlets have noted the Knicks–Nets rivalry's similarity to those of other New York City teams, such as the Major League Baseball Subway Series rivalry between the American League 's New York Yankees and the National League 's New York Mets, and the National Football League rivalry between the National Football Conference 's New York Giants and the American Football Conference 's New York Jets, the result of the boroughs' proximity through the New York City Subway. Historically, the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn competed via the Dodgers–Giants rivalry, when the two teams were known as the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. Like the Knicks and Nets, the Giants and Dodgers played in Manhattan and Brooklyn, respectively, and were fierce intraleague rivals. The rivalry between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League has also taken on a similar dimension since the Islanders moved to Barclays Center in 2015. Due to the Knicks being located in Manhattan and the Nets being located in Brooklyn, some media outlets have dubbed this rivalry "Clash of the Boroughs".

Toronto Raptors

A rivalry with the Toronto Raptors had begun in 2004, when then-Raptors guard/forward Vince Carter had been traded to the then-New Jersey Nets. However, the two teams did not meet in the playoffs until 2007, when the Nets defeated the Raptors in the first round series, 4–2, after a go-ahead shot by Richard Jefferson with 8 seconds left in Game 6 led to a 98–97 victory. Seven years later, the two teams met again in the first round, and the series went to seven games, with a game-winning block by Paul Pierce, giving the Nets the 104–103 victory. The series was also noted for controversy when Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri made derogatory remarks towards Brooklyn at a fan rally outside Maple Leaf Square in Toronto before Game 1. Ujiri later apologized at halftime.

Season-by-season record

List of the last five seasons completed by the Nets. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Brooklyn Nets seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, % = Winning Percentage;
SeasonGPWLW–L%FinishPlayoffs
2014–158238443rd, AtlanticLost in First Round, 2–4
2015–168221614th, AtlanticDid not qualify
2016–178220625th, AtlanticDid not qualify
2017–188228545th, AtlanticDid not qualify
2018–198242404th, AtlanticLost in First Round, 1–4

Culture

Mascot

The mascot of the New Jersey Nets was Sly the Silver Fox, who debuted on October 31, 1997 as part of the rebranding of the Nets for the 1997–98 season. Prior to that, the Nets' mascot was an anthropomorphic dragon named Duncan the Dragon.
After the Nets' move to Brooklyn, the team introduced a new superhero mascot named BrooklyKnight on November 3, 2012. In his first appearance, he was lowered from the ceiling of Barclays Center amid sparks and fanfare and introduced by then-Nets PA announcer David Diamante: "Here to defend Brooklyn, he's the BrooklyKnight." The mascot was co-created by Marvel Entertainment, a sister company to NBA broadcasters ABC and ESPN. The character also starred in 32-page comic book published by Marvel titled BrooklyKnight #1, written by Jason Aaron with art by Mike Deodato. After the Nets' second season in Brooklyn, the BrooklyKnight mascot was retired.

Team anthem

On November 3, 2012, the Nets introduced a new team anthem titled "Brooklyn: Something To Lean On", written and recorded by Brooklyn-born musician John Forté. The song is notable for its refrain, which features the "Brooklyn" chant that has been popular with fans in the Barclays Center.

Management

On September 18, 2019, Joseph Tsai, the executive vice chairman of the Alibaba Group, completed the acquisition of full ownership of the Brooklyn Nets. With the closing of the transaction, Tsai became NBA Governor of the Nets and its affiliates. Additionally, former Turner Broadcasting president David Levy was named CEO of the Nets and Barclays Center. On November 12, the Nets and Barclays Center announced that David Levy would step down from the CEO position he had assumed less than two months before. Oliver Weisberg, president of Tsai's holding company J Tsai Sports, assumed an interim CEO role.

Ownership history

The original owner of the Nets franchise was trucking magnate Arthur J. Brown, who founded the team in 1967. The next year, Brown sold the team for $1.1 million to entrepreneur Roy Boe. Due to financial losses suffered while the team was on Long Island, Boe moved the team back to New Jersey in 1977 and sold the team a year later to a group of seven local businessmen led by Alan N. Cohen and Joseph Taub, who became known as the "Secaucus Seven".
After a lengthy ownership of the franchise and numerous attempts to improve the financial situation of the team, the "Secaucus Seven" finally sold the team in 1998 to a group of local real estate developers led by Raymond Chambers and Lewis Katz, who called themselves the "Community Youth Organization" and wanted to move the team to Newark, New Jersey. The next year the group signed an agreement with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to form YankeeNets, a holding company that owned the two teams, and later also the New Jersey Devils, and increase leverage in future broadcast contracts by negotiating together. After receiving offers from numerous broadcast partners, including what was their then-current rights holder Cablevision, YankeeNets decided to launch its own regional sports television called the YES Network.
YankeeNets failed in its attempts to secure a deal with Newark to construct a new arena in the city. By that point in time, tensions between the management of the Yankees, Nets, and the Devils had cause a rift between them, and a decision was made to split the group up. With their plan to move the Nets dead, the Community Youth Organization placed the team on sale. After a short bidding process, the group secured a deal in 2004 with real estate developer Bruce Ratner to buy the team for $300 million, defeating a similar offer by Charles Kushner and Senator Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey. Ratner had purchased the team with the intent of moving it to a new arena in Brooklyn, which was to be a centerpiece of the large-scale Atlantic Yards development.
On September 24, 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's third-richest man according to Forbes, confirmed his intention to become majority owner of the Nets. Prokhorov sent an offer to the team owners requesting that the control shareholding of the basketball club be sold to his company, Onexim, for a symbolic price. In return, Prokhorov funded a loan for the construction of a $700 million arena in Brooklyn which was later named the Barclays Center, and attracted additional funds from Western banks. Prokhorov stated that he initiated the deal to help push Russian basketball to a new level of development. On May 11, 2010, following approval from the other owners of the NBA, Prokhorov had become a principal owner of the Nets.
In late 2017, Prokhorov agreed to sell a 49% stake in the team to Tsai, with an option for Tsai to become the majority owner. The option was exercised in August 2019, with Tsai also buying the Nets' arena, the Barclays Center, from Prokhorov for nearly $1 billion in a separate deal. The NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale to Tsai on September 18, 2019.

Season-by-season records

Facilities

Home arenas

Source:
ArenaLocationDuration
Teaneck ArmoryTeaneck, New Jersey1967–1968
Long Island ArenaCommack, New York1968–1969
Island GardenWest Hempstead, New York1969–1972
Nassau Veterans Memorial ColiseumUniondale, New York1972–1977
Rutgers Athletic CenterPiscataway, New Jersey1977–1981
Brendan Byrne Arena,
renamed Continental Airlines Arena,
renamed Izod Center 		East Rutherford, New Jersey1981–2010
Prudential CenterNewark, New Jersey2010–2012
Barclays CenterBrooklyn, New York2012–present

Practice facilities

The Nets' practice facility and headquarters for the team's basketball operations are located at the Hospital for Special Surgery Training Center in the Industry City complex in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The facility opened on February 17, 2016, and is built on the roof of an empty warehouse in the complex, occupying 70,000 square feet of space in total. The renovation project cost roughly $50 million. The opening of the training center completed the Nets' move to Brooklyn.
The team's previous practice facility was at the 65,000-square-foot PNY Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which opened in 1998. Prior to that, the team practiced at the APA Recreation Center in North Bergen, New Jersey, sharing their lockers and practice courts with truck drivers who used the facility.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in November 2012, PNY Center suffered a power outage and extensive water damage due to flooding, and for several months, the team used the smaller training spaces and practice courts inside the Barclays Center instead.

Players and coaches

Current roster

Retained draft rights

The Nets hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends. This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.
DraftRoundPickPlayerPos.NationalityCurrent teamNoteRef
2019256GUnited StatesLong Island Nets Acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers
2017257FBulgariaOlympiacos Piraeus
2016244GFranceNanterre 92 Acquired from the Atlanta Hawks
2015239FArgentinaBaxi Manresa Acquired from the Charlotte Hornets
2015249FUnited StatesFree agentAcquired from the Washington Wizards
2014254G/FSerbiaPartizan NIS Acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers
2014259GUnited StatesEgis Körmend Acquired from the Toronto Raptors

Franchise leaders

Bold denotes still active with the team. Italics denotes still active, but not with the team. "Name*" includes combined statistics for the team from both the ABA and NBA.
;Points scored as of the end of the 2018–19 season
  1. Brook Lopez
  2. Buck Williams
  3. Vince Carter
  4. Richard Jefferson
  5. Jason Kidd
  6. John Williamson*
  7. Julius Erving*
  8. Kerry Kittles
  9. Derrick Coleman
  10. Chris Morris
  11. Mike Gminski
  12. Billy Paultz*
  13. Bill Melchionni*
  14. Otis Birdsong
  15. Keith Van Horn
  16. Albert King
  17. Kendall Gill
  18. Darwin Cook
  19. Kenny Anderson
  20. Deron Williams
  21. Kenyon Martin
  22. Rick Barry*
  23. Joe Johnson
  24. Stephon Marbury
  25. Bernard King
  26. Brian Taylor*
  27. Dražen Petrović
  28. Devin Harris
  29. Darryl Dawkins
  30. Walt Simon*
;Other statistics as of the end of the 2018–19 season

Retired numbers

No.PlayerPositionTenureDate
3Dražen PetrovićG1990–1993November 11, 1993
5Jason KiddG2001–2008October 17, 2013
23John WilliamsonG1973–1980December 7, 1990
25Bill MelchionniG1969–1976September 1976
32Julius ErvingF1973–1976April 3, 1987
52Buck WilliamsF1981–1989April 11, 1999

Basketball Hall of Fame

No.NamePositionTenureInducted
24Rick BarryF1970–19721987
1Nate ArchibaldG1976–19771991
32Julius ErvingF1973–19761993
21Bob McAdooC19812000
3Dražen PetrovićG1990–19932002
34Mel DanielsC19762012
22Bernard KingF1977–19792013
30Bernard KingF1992–19932013
33Alonzo MourningC2003–20042014
55Dikembe MutomboC2002–20032015
10Maurice CheeksG1992–19932018
5Jason KiddG2001–20082018

NamePositionTenureInducted
Lou CarneseccaHead coach1970–19731992
Chuck DalyHead coach1992–19941994
Larry BrownHead coach1981–19832002
John CalipariHead coach1996–19992015
Bill FitchHead coach1989–19922019

NamePositionTenureInducted
Rod ThornAssistant coach1973–1975, 1976–19782018
Rod ThornExecutive2000–20102018

;Notes

FIBA Hall of Fame

Individual awards

NBA

;NBA Rookie of the Year
;NBA Executive of the Year
;J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award
;All-NBA First Team
;All-NBA Second Team
;All-NBA Third Team
;NBA All-Defensive First Team
;NBA All-Defensive Second Team
;NBA All-Rookie First Team
;NBA All-Rookie Second Team
;ABA Most Valuable Player
;ABA Playoffs Most Valuable Player
;ABA Rookie of the Year
;All-ABA Team First Team
;All-ABA Team Second Team
;ABA All-Defensive Team
;ABA All-Rookie Team
;NBA All-Star Game
;NBA All-Star Game head coaches
The Nets signed an agreement with the Springfield Armor to become its exclusive NBA Development League affiliate starting in the 2011–12 season. This made the Nets the second team to opt for a D-League "hybrid affiliation", the first being the Houston Rockets with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Springfield ownership maintained control over business, marketing, and day-to-day operations, with the Nets having control over coaching and player decisions. This hybrid model was well received by GMs and owners. However, after three seasons, the Pistons purchased the Armor from its former owners, and moved and renamed the team the Grand Rapids Drive.
On November 6, 2015, the Nets announced that they had purchased a new D-League team to be called the Long Island Nets. The team played their home games during the 2016–17 season at the Barclays Center and then at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York after renovations were complete for the 2017–18 season. The Long Island Nets became the twelfth D-League team to be owned by an NBA team.

Media

The television home of the Nets is currently the YES Network, which the team helped create while they were under the corporate umbrella of YankeeNets LLC, a merger of business operations between the Nets and the New York Yankees. After the dissolution of YankeeNets and Bruce Ratner's purchase of the team, YES signed a long-term deal to keep broadcasting Nets games. The sale to the Ratner group did not include the percentage of YES that was previously owned by the Nets, which remains with the pre-merger Nets owners. Prior to that, the Nets' TV home was Fox Sports Net New York and SportsChannel New York.
The team's local broadcast partner is WWOR-TV, and games have aired on WLNY-TV in the past as well.
The current flagship radio station of the Nets is WFAN, which took over the radio rights to the Nets after losing their basketball contract with the Knicks. Prior to that, Nets games aired on WNEW, WMCA, WVNJ, WNBC, WQEW, and WOR.
In the club's early ABA years, some Sunday road games were televised in a package carried by WPIX. The team's later ABA tenure featured more frequent road telecasts on their current broadcast partner, WWOR-TV. Known then as WOR-TV, it continued airing road games for a time once the team joined the NBA in 1976.

Television

has television duties for the Nets after the departure of Marv Albert in 2011. Eagle became the lead television voice for the team in 1995 after serving as the team's radio voice for one year, while Albert joined the Nets following his firing by MSG Network in 2005 after four decades as the lead voice of the New York Knicks. When Albert joined the broadcast team, he became the lead broadcaster with Eagle as his substitute; beginning in the 2009–10 season, due to Albert's advancing age and his other commitments, Eagle once again assumed the lead play-by-play spot. As of the 2011–12 season, Eagle is the sole lead announcer after Albert decided to move to CBS Sports for both NFL and NCAA basketball, in addition to his work on the NBA on TNT. Ryan Ruocco substitutes for Eagle during the latter's CBS NFL and NCAA commitments.
Joining Eagle in the booth for 2013 are former NBA player and ex-Net Donny Marshall and longtime Nets analyst Jim Spanarkel. Marshall replaced Mike Fratello as the lead analyst following the 2012–13 season and Spanarkel shares duties with him as he has in the past with other announcers.
As of 2019, Sarah Kustok and Richard Jefferson provide color commentary on YES Network broadcasts, and Michael Grady serves as courtside reporter.

Radio

is the Nets' current radio flagship, the station having assumed radio rights from WOR following the 2003–04 season. Chris Carrino and Tim Capstraw comprise the broadcast team, Carrino on play-by-play and Capstraw as the analyst. The games air on other Entercom-operated stations, such as WCBS and WNSH, when there are programming conflicts on WFAN.
Other broadcasters who have worked for the Nets include Howard David, Bob Papa, Bill Raftery, Kelly Tripucka, Albert King, Mike O'Koren, Spencer Ross, Mel Proctor, Joe Tait, John Sterling, Mike DiTomasso, WFAN update man John Minko and Mark Jackson.
Nets games have also aired on WNEW and WQEW in the past.
During the club's ABA years, announcers included Marty Glickman, Marv Albert's brothers Al Albert and Steve Albert, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, Bob Goldsholl, as well as Sterling and DiTomasso. The latter two joined the club's move into the NBA.