Channing Frye didn’t leave much room for interpretation when asked about the Brooklyn Nets’ outlook.
When a fan question came his way, the former NBA champion went straight at the roster and the bigger picture around it, saying:
“How do you think the Brooklyn Nets will do this season? I’ve got two sentences for you.
The first one is to stock up on chosenfamilywines.com. And No. 2 - garbage.
Straight garbage.”
Frye kept going from there, arguing that the Nets don’t have a clear basketball identity and pointing to the holes in the lineup.
“That’s alright. You’ll get another pick.
You guys just don’t have an identity, you know? Like, what is a Brooklyn Net?
You guys have Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle, but like, who’s your center? Who’s your starting guard?
You’re missing a lot of pieces.”
“You’ve got a guy or two, but you don’t have a team. And you’re going against the East, which is a beast this year,” Frye added. “So, good luck.”
That blunt assessment lands because Brooklyn’s offseason has done little to change the basic concern: the Nets have names, but not much of a finished product. The team did make additions, including Julius Randle, yet the roster still looks thin around its top pieces.
Randle and Michael Porter Jr. are the headliners, and both bring real production. Randle put up 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game last season, while Porter Jr. delivered a career-high 24.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, shooting 46.3% from the field and 36.3% from three-point range.
Individually, that’s a strong pair. Together, though, it’s not clear how cleanly they fit, and the source material notes that Porter Jr. has also been part of trade rumors. That only adds more uncertainty to a group that already feels unfinished.
There is at least a path for Brooklyn to lean into development. After Nic Claxton was traded to the Bulls, Day’Ron Sharpe is expected to move into the starting center role. He averaged 8.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, numbers that don’t exactly jump off the page, but the 24-year-old could be asked to do more with a bigger opportunity.
The Nets could also spend time on younger players such as Egor Demin, Drake Powell, and rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. That may offer some reason for patience, but it doesn’t change the bigger reality: this is still a rebuilding team.
And with the league’s latest anti-tanking policies now in play, Brooklyn’s lack of a competitive roster could make the road to the top pick in next year’s draft even more complicated.
In Other News...
Former Nets Are Suddenly Fueling A Painful Brooklyn Debate
The long tail of Brooklyns recent roster churn is still hanging around the league, and it has turned into an awkward reminder of what the Nets once had and what they might need again. Bruce Brown Jr., Ochai Agbaji and Cam Thomas are all sitting near the top of the NBAs remaining free-agent board ahead of the 2026-27 season, a grouping that says plenty about how much talent has cycled through the organization in a relatively short span.
Brown is ranked second overall, Agbaji fifth and Thomas tenth, which gives the conversation a curious mix of proven playoff value, still-developing upside and a scorer whose future could still go in more than one direction. For Brooklyn, the broader debate is less about where these players land than what their standing says about the teams recent decisions, and whether any of them were ever as replaceable as they once seemed. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Rebuild Suddenly Hinges On One Brutal Michael Porter Jr. Decision
The Nets rebuild may be heading toward an early crossroads as Februarys trade deadline approaches, with Michael Porter Jr. emerging as a possible name to watch on the market. For a team still trying to lay the foundation of its next roster, Porter Jr. matters for more than just his scoring punch. He is also on an expiring contract, which makes him one of the few real assets Brooklyn could turn into draft capital if it decides the long-term plan is better served by more swings of the lottery wheel.
The problem is that Porter Jr. is also Brooklyns best player, and the team does not have a deep bench of young talent ready to make that kind of loss feel painless. Holding onto him could help preserve the Nets standing in the lottery picture, while moving him could accelerate the asset-collection phase of the rebuild. For now, the front office is left weighing whether the return in picks is worth giving up the rosters most established piece. [Read more 🡒]
Egor Demin May Be Forcing A Bigger Nets Conversation
Egor Demin already gave the Nets enough reason to pay attention during his rookie season, then backed it up with a summer league run that looked even more encouraging. He finished his first year averaging 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists while hitting 38.5% from three, the kind of early production that can quietly start changing how a young player is viewed inside a rebuilding organization.
What makes Demin interesting now is less about what he has already done and more about how quickly the conversation could grow if the efficiency catches up to the skill. After averaging 21.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists in summer league, he has put himself in position to turn promise into something sturdier, and if that shooting gains another level, Brooklyn may have a much bigger decision on its hands than it expected. [Read more 🡒]