If the Nets‘ recent hot streak didn’t already say sufficient, two key veterans are making it completely clear: Brooklyn’s gamers should not taken with tanking.
With six wins of their final seven video games, the Nets moved to inside 1.5 video games of the Japanese Convention’s ultimate spot within the Play-In Event.
But some followers are fast to bemoan that each win lessens the Nets’ probabilities on the No. 1 total decide within the 2025 NBA Draft, the place do-it-all Duke ahead Cooper Flagg is taken into account the prize.
“We don’t care,” Cam Johnson mentioned matter-of-factly after Wednesday’s 100-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
“We do not care what they say about that. Listen, at the end of the day, the 15, 18 guys on his team have a job to do, and our job is to not try to get a draft pick. Our job is simply to win basketball games.”
The Nets (20-34) presently have an 8.2% likelihood at touchdown the No. 1 decide on this yr’s draft lottery, in response to the web site Tankathon. These are the seventh-best odds within the NBA.
They’ve a 34.5% likelihood to finish up with a top-four choice.
Many anticipated the Nets to be within the combine for the No. 1 decide after they traded Mikal Bridges to the Knicks final offseason. In a separate deal, the Nets re-acquired their very own 2025 first-round choice from the Houston Rockets, negating a earlier swap.
However the Nets improved Wednesday to 20-34, already eclipsing Las Vegas’ projected win whole of 18.5.
“We’re competitors,” Nets heart Nic Claxton mentioned. “We put so much time in. We’ve been grinding our whole life to get to this stage. We could care less about draft picks. We don’t care.”
The 18-year-old Flagg — who’s averaging 19.8 factors, 7.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a freshman — is broadly anticipated to be taken first total this June, whereas ultra-talented Rutgers guards Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are additionally coveted prospects.
The Nets, of their first yr below head coach Jordi Fernandez, jumped out to a shocking 9-10 begin earlier than dropping 23 of their subsequent 28 video games. Through the season, the Nets have traded veterans Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith and agreed to a buyout with Ben Simmons.
However Brooklyn went into the All-Star break with a 6-1 file in its final seven video games, with Claxton’s rim safety anchoring a protection that boasts the NBA’s finest score (103.4) in that stretch.
“We’re not naive to it. The fans are upset when we win,” Claxton mentioned. “That’s just what it is. It’s just a part of it, but we work so hard every single day, so we can’t try to lose games. We’re gonna go out and try to win every game, but I understand where the fans are coming from. I feel why they would want us to lose this year and everything. I feel them, but we want to win.”
The Nets are actually a lot nearer to the Tenth-seeded Chicago Bulls for the ultimate play-in spot than they’re to the NBA-worst Washington Wizards, whose 9-45 file is 11 video games worse than Brooklyn’s.
Underneath the present lottery format, the NBA’s worst three groups every get 14% odds for the No. 1 total decide. The New Orleans Pelicans (12-42) and Utah Jazz (13-40) spherical out the present three.
The Nets are two years faraway from the blockbuster trades that despatched Kyrie Irving to Dallas and Kevin Durant to Phoenix, leaving Brooklyn and not using a clear-cut famous person in a league pushed by them.
However Johnson, who was a part of the return for Durant, doesn’t wish to hear from followers who assume the Nets ought to tank.
“If that’s what they think, then they’re not really a fan, you know what I mean?” Johnson mentioned. “They don’t want us to succeed. You’re going to ask our own players to lose? We’re not going to do that. We’re out there to compete to win every game.”
