The Brooklyn Nets are back at Barclays Center on Wednesday night, still searching for their first home win of the season and trying to turn a rough start into something a little more watchable for the fans in the building.
Brooklyn finally got into the win column against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, then dropped right back into familiar territory Monday night with a 103-90 loss to the New York Knicks. That made it 15 straight losses to their crosstown rivals and the defending champions.
Charlotte comes in as the kind of opponent Brooklyn can at least look at and think, maybe this is the spot. The Hornets have lost four in a row, including a 33-point defeat to the Detroit Pistons on Monday. One of these teams is going to leave Wednesday night with a much better feeling than the other.
The Nets are still winless at home, sitting at 0-3 at Barclays Center with losses to the depleted Hornets, Pacers, and Pistons. Two of those defeats came by double digits, and the offense hasn’t given them much margin for error. Brooklyn has failed to top 100 points in three straight games, and Monday’s fourth quarter against the Knicks was especially rough, with the Nets scoring just 11 points over the final 12 minutes.
Even so, there have been a few encouraging signs from the young group. Nolan Traoré scored 17 points against New York, and Mikel Brown Jr. added 13 off the bench. For a team focused on development, those are the kinds of performances that matter.
There’s also a clear path for Brooklyn to make life difficult on Charlotte: force turnovers. The Hornets gave it away 27 times against Detroit and have piled up 82 turnovers during their four-game skid.
In the first meeting between these teams, Charlotte still won 110-103 by controlling the paint, and that game came without Kon Knueppel, Grant Williams and Coby White. Brooklyn, though, did force 21 turnovers in that one, and if it can create that kind of chaos again, the Nets should give themselves a real shot.
The injury report leans heavily toward Brooklyn’s younger and deeper-end roster pieces being unavailable. Egor Dëmin is out with a right leg bone bruise, while Drake Powell, Joshua Jefferson and Ben Saraf are all out on G League assignment. Tyler Bilodeau and Grant Nelson are also out on G League two-way assignments.
Charlotte lists Kon Knueppel as probable with a left hamstring strain, Coby White as probable with left calf injury management, and Grant Williams out with a right hamstring.
The player to keep an eye on is Brandon Miller. The former 2023 draft debate over Miller and Scoot Henderson has looked pretty good for Charlotte so far, and Miller is averaging 23.5 points per game to start the season.
His shooting has been shaky - he’s at 37.8% from the field - but he’s the kind of scorer who can flip a game fast. Against Brooklyn in the first meeting, he had 18 points on 7-of-21 shooting and 3-of-14 from three.
Since then, he’s made just 22 of his last 62 field-goal attempts, which is exactly the kind of slump the Nets would love to see continue. Of course, that’s the sort of thing that tends to end the moment a team starts hoping for it.
Still, Wednesday night gives Brooklyn a pretty fair chance to grab win No. 2 and maybe give the home crowd something to take with them on the way out.
In Other News...
Nets Trade Picture Is Forming Around Two Names Fans Know Well
The trade market around the deadline is starting to take shape, and Norman Powell is one of the names drawing attention as teams look for help without making a long-term commitment. The Chicago Bulls forward is on an expiring deal with a team option for next season, which makes him especially appealing to clubs that want a proven scorer on a shorter-term arrangement.
Brooklyns side of the picture is just as interesting, because Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle are also expected to be part of the broader conversation as the Nets sort through where they stand. With Brooklyn viewed as a team in a selling position, the focus is less on quick fixes and more on whether either veteran can eventually bring back meaningful value as the deadline chatter builds. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Bench Problems Could Force Jordi Fernndez To Try Something New
Brooklyns offense has been stuck in a frustrating stretch, and the trouble has shown up most clearly when the second unit comes on the floor. Over the last three games, the Nets have averaged just 92.6 points, with key reserves Chaney Johnson, Keon Ellis and Noah Clowney all struggling to find a rhythm from the field and beyond the arc.
That slump has pushed Jordi Fernndez toward a possible change in the bench mix, and Josh Minott is the most obvious candidate to get a longer look. He flashed real promise in limited minutes, and the coaching staff may decide the best way to spark a more efficient offense is to give him a bigger role and see whether the rotation can produce a different kind of energy. [Read more 🡒]
Nets And Liberty Are Tying Brooklyn Basketball To Something Bigger
Brooklyn basketball has been showing up in places that matter well beyond the scoreboard. Through a collaboration involving the Nets, the Liberty and the Tsais Social Justice Fund, playgrounds in neighborhoods affected by gun violence have been getting a real upgrade, with new courts, backboards, benches and other amenities meant to turn worn-down spaces into something safer and more welcoming for families and kids.
City officials have taken notice, too, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura praising the effort as a way to strengthen community connection as much as recreation. The recent dedication at Fish playground in Brownsville fit that theme, another sign that the teams footprint in Brooklyn is being tied to something larger than basketball, even as the work continues in neighborhoods where the need is still very real. [Read more 🡒]