The Brooklyn Nets are currently preparing to enter a full-on rebuilding year in 2025-26, with one of the youngest rosters in the entire NBA. The Nets spent five first round draft picks this year, and also traded Cam Johnson to the Denver Nuggets, bringing back wing shooter Michael Porter Jr. in return.
It's been a steady decline for the Nets since the days of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Harden eventually requested a trade, which was granted when he was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022. Harden and Durant are both members of the Netflix special “Starting Five,” and on the program, Durant spoke on Harden's exit from the team.
“Ask him about that s***, about why he left Brooklyn like that,” said Durant, per the NBA Subreddit. “Hopefully since he's on the Netflix special, he'll be a little more real than he would be if he were doing a press conference about it.”
Harden could be seen watching Durant say those words during the documentary.
“It was COVID. I never was fully healthy in Brooklyn, so I wasn't myself,” said Harden. “It was a lot.”
What could have been for the Nets
Brooklyn Nets fans are likely still asking themselves what would have happened had Kyrie Irving not gone down in their second round series vs the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Brooklyn got off to a 2-0 lead in that series but ultimately lost after Irving went down and Harden was severely hobbled. The Bucks went on to win that year's NBA championship.
The next season, the Nets traded Harden to the 76ers and then disintegrated in the first round, getting swept by the Boston Celtics, with Durant and Irving both turning in some of the worst playoff performances of their respective careers.
Both stars were then traded during the 2022-23 season, and the Nets have been in tank mode since then, which figures to be the case for at least the next couple of seasons.
The Nets will kick off their 2025-26 season on October 22 against the Charlotte Hornets on the road.
