When the 2023-2024 NBA season began, those evaluating the Brooklyn Nets’ roster had questions as to whether they could repeat as a playoff team after finishing as the No. 6 seed at 45-37 on the heels of trading both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in succession last February. Irving was moved to the Dallas Mavericks and Durant to the Phoenix Suns, with which they remain.
A little over 30 games of the season is in the books and some of those questions have been answered, but uncertainty still hovers over the Nets as a potential postseason team. Right now they are a play-in tournament candidate, spots reserved for the No. 7 to No 10 seeds,
The season began with skeptics wondering if 6-foot-3-inch shooting guard Cam Thomas could continue his prolific scoring following the departures of Irving and Durant. Last February, at age 21, he became the youngest player in NBA history to register 40 or more points in three straight games. The 2021 No. 27 overall pick by the Nets out of LSU ended the season averaging 10.6 in just 16.6 minutes per game.
He returned to Brooklyn last week after the Nets five game west coast road trip averaging 24.4 points. After facing the Milwaukee Bucks last night at the Barclays Center, the Nets begin another long period away from home, as they will be in Washington tomorrow to play the Wizards then have games against the Oklahoma City Thunder (Sunday), the New Orleans Pelicans (next Tuesday) and the Houston Rockets (next Wednesday), a total of four over six days.
Thomas proved to be no one-hit wonder, and began this season setting another record. He scored 36 points in the Nets’ first game, a 114-113 loss in Brooklyn to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the most ever in a season opener for a player coming off of the bench. Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn quickly moved him into the starting lineup before he was sidelined for 22 consecutive days, missing nine games with a sprained left ankle. He came back on November 30.
Three-time NBA All-Star point-forward Ben Simmons has only played in six games due to a nerve impingement in the left side of his lower back. Simmons hasn’t played since November 6 and there is no timetable for his return to action. He looked promising in his short stint, averaging 6.5 points, a career high 10.8 rebounds and close to 7 assists. Simmons has not played in more than 60 games since the 2018-2019 season, a streak that will continue this campaign. Mikal Bridges, who the Nets acquired in the Durant trade, has been the Nets’ most reliable player. Although Bridges has played well, he hasn’t scored the ball at the same level he did last season in his first full month in a Nets uniform (28.8 points per game in March). This season he has stayed in the 22 points per game range.
The Nets will need their core of Thomas, Bridges, forward Cam Johnson and center Nic Claxton to play a majority of the 51 games left to be a playoff team with the outlook on Simmons iffy.
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