The Brooklyn Nets can’t afford to leave wins on the table against the Western Conference if they want any real shot at the postseason in 2026-27.
That’s not just a side note in their schedule. It’s a necessity.
Brooklyn is heading into a season where tanking is off the table, thanks to not controlling its 2027 first-round pick, and the front office has already signaled a push toward competitiveness with additions like Julius Randle and Mikel Brown Jr. If the Nets are going to make a move, it has to start with turning more games into wins.
The East is going to be the main obstacle. With the new lottery system and the chaotic offseason that has reshaped the conference, Brooklyn is staring at what could be the deepest Eastern field in recent memory.
Getting into the top 10 won’t come easy. But while the Nets’ bigger battle is clearly in their own conference, the 30 games against the West matter plenty too.
Brooklyn will face every Western Conference team twice, and those matchups can’t be treated like filler. Last season, the Nets went just 6-25 against the West, winning fewer than one in five of those games. That was a rough number in any context, and it stood out even more on a team that finished with only 20 wins overall.
The Nets’ path to the playoffs will still be shaped mostly by what happens against Eastern Conference opponents, especially the teams they’re fighting with in the standings. But if Brooklyn is going to build any cushion, or make up ground when the East gets crowded, it needs to steal some games out West.
There’s at least a little reason to believe that part of the schedule could be more manageable this time around. Brooklyn still probably won’t be beating the top teams in the West, but the weaker end of that conference should give the Nets opportunities they have to cash in on.
In the end, Brooklyn’s postseason hopes will rise or fall on its work in the East. Still, the Nets can’t ignore the West. Those games may end up being the difference between staying in the hunt and falling behind.
In Other News...
Nets Rebuild Could Force Some Uncomfortable Expansion Draft Decisions
If the NBA does move toward expansion by the 2026-27 season, the Nets could find themselves in an uncomfortable spot, forced to sort through a roster that is still very much in the middle of a rebuild. The scenario has already prompted some early guesswork from analysts Dan Favale and Grant Hughes, who looked at how Brooklyn might handle an expansion draft modeled after the leagues 2004 rules, with contract status and long-term team direction both factoring into the decision-making.
The exercise is especially relevant now because commissioner Adam Silver has recently spoken about the possibility of expansion, including the kind of new-market buzz that comes with cities like Las Vegas. For Brooklyn, the challenge would not just be losing a player, but deciding which pieces are truly worth shielding when the bigger goal is to keep the rebuild moving without getting caught flat-footed if the league adds another team or two. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Just Became Part Of A Brutal NBA Warning Story
For a franchise that has spent plenty of time trying to carve out its own identity in New York, the latest cautionary tale out of the NBA can feel uncomfortably familiar. Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon recently drew a line between the Clippers long-running shadow problem with the Lakers and the way the Nets have often lived in the Knicks orbit, with both clubs trying to prove they are more than the citys second option.
The Clippers push to force their way into the elite, including the aggressive pursuit of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, was framed as the kind of win-now move that can look bold in the moment and messy later on. Joey Linn also reported that the Lakers comparison helped fuel some questionable thinking around salary cap rules, which makes the warning relevant in Brooklyn too: chasing status in a rivals market can lead a team to decisions it may regret long after the spotlight fades. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Face A Defining Choice With No Clear Franchise Star
The Nets are heading into next season with a roster that does not yet feature an obvious franchise centerpiece, and that alone puts a different kind of pressure on Brooklyns front office. With the team projected to sit near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and its first-round pick tied up by a swap right owned by Houston, the usual incentives around simply waiting for the draft are not there in the same way.
That leaves the organization weighing a more aggressive path, one that would involve using its flexibility to chase a star through the trade market and give the roster a better chance to get back to the postseason. There is some protection in the setup, too, since the Nets have room to maneuver on contracts and limited downside if the year goes sideways, but the bigger question is whether they decide this is the moment to act or another season to keep building. [Read more 🡒]