With only nine games left in the season for the Brooklyn Nets after last night’s contest against the Toronto Raptors at the Barclays Center, the most important date on the calendar for the Brooklyn Nets is the May 12 NBA Draft Lottery, which will decide where the franchise will pick in June’s draft.
The Nets had lost four in a row and were 23-49 before facing the Raptors. On Monday night, they were non-competitive against the Dallas Mavericks at Barclays in a 120-101 defeat. It was their seventh loss over the previous eight games and 14th in their last 16. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez addressed what he expects from his group to close out the season as they are virtually eliminated from playoff contention. “The approach is the same: to get 1% better and go out there and compete and fight for the game, no matter who’s out there. I think we’ve done that the whole year,” Fernandez said. “Our main purpose is, like I said, to get better and see who’s the next Net [up] and who’s going to be here for the long run, and obviously, we have a job to do and evaluate, and it’s good to see all those guys that haven’t played as much.” Coming into this season, it was widely accepted by followers of the NBA that the Nets were at the start of a rebuilding phase with Fernandez in his first year as an NBA head coach following three seasons as the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings. So their current record is expected. Laying a solid foundation for the future was one of the primary objectives. In September, general manager Sean Marks discussed some of the objectives.
Related: With Mitchell Robinson back in the fold, the Knicks expand their rotation
“Everyone has got a job to do,” he said at the team’s media day. “Our job… and (Fernández’s) job on the court is to help develop a culture, develop an identity, and establish that as the season goes on.
Ultimately, our goal — it’s been the same way every year — is to go out there and compete,” Marks continued, “and compete at the highest level, no matter what the stakes may be and no matter what is being put in front of you — to go and compete and establish that identity through that.” Marks said his job also entails discovering which players on the roster can potentially be with the franchise for years to come. Outside of the 2025 NBA Draft, reserve center Day’Ron Sharpe and guard Cam Thomas are restricted free agents, and point guard D’Angelo Russell is an unrestricted free agent. Brooklyn will host the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow before taking on the Wizards in Washington on Saturday. The Nets will face the Mavericks in Dallas on Monday.