Brooklyn Nets fans are staring at the 2026-27 season through a pretty clear lens: patience, development, and not much reason to expect a sudden leap. After a 2025-26 campaign that ended with 20 wins, the Nets still haven’t reached the postseason since the 2022-23 season, and the organization has made its approach obvious.
Governing owner Joe Tsai has said the team will not move away from its current path, even while feeling “ embarrassed ” by the Knicks championship. Sean Marks has backed that stance, making the front office’s timeline plain: “No, not at all.
I mean, we’re not going to be motivated or less motivated by what somebody else is doing,” Marks said. “I think we all we control is our path.
I think we set out on this a couple of years ago, and I think I’m very happy with what the group has done…”
That doesn’t mean the outside world is sold. The betting market has the Nets at 24.5 wins, and the broader view around the team leans somewhere between cautious optimism and outright uncertainty.
The East, meanwhile, is only getting tougher. LeBron James is now in the East, Kawhi Leonard is reportedly headed to the Toronto Raptors, and the Washington Wizards are set to debut Trae Young, Anthony Davis and 2026 No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa.
Still, Nets fans are hanging onto hope. In a recent NetsDaily poll, 56% of voters said they expect Brooklyn to finish with 30-39 wins in 2026-27. That range wouldn’t have been enough in 2025-26, but it would have put a team in the mix for a play-in spot in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, when two Eastern Conference teams reached the play-in with 30-39 wins.
There’s a case for the optimistic view. Julius Randle, a three-time All-Star, is in the mix now, and Michael Porter Jr. had a career season with the Nets.
Brooklyn also added Moe Wagner and Keon Ellis, moved on from Nicolas Claxton, re-signed Day’ron Sharpe, and used this past summer’s draft on Mikel Brown Jr. at No. 6 and Joshua Jefferson at No. 28.
Even with that group, the Eastern Conference still looks loaded, which is why the more cautious crowd sees the same picture as the oddsmakers and pundits. But fans are fans for a reason. As the old line goes: expect the worst, hope for the best.
One thing nobody is debating is the value of trying to win. The Nets don’t own their first-round pick in the upcoming draft, so losing helps nobody. Winning, on the other hand, at least keeps the culture moving in the right direction.
In Other News...
Cam Whitmore Suddenly Feels Like A Nets Fit To Watch
Cam Whitmores path has quickly turned uncertain after Cleveland acquired him in a multi-team trade, only for the Cavaliers to reportedly weigh whether to waive and stretch his contract. For a young wing with real upside, that kind of roster calculus can be harsh, but it also opens the door for a team that still has room to think more about talent than fit on paper.
The Nets are one of the clubs worth watching if Whitmore does become available. Brooklyn has a clear need for young scoring help on the wing, and Whitmores profile lines up with the kind of upside swing that makes sense for a team still sorting out its long-term core. Charlotte is another possible landing spot, but from Brooklyns perspective, this is exactly the sort of opportunity that can go from theoretical to very real in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Still Face One Brutal Question After A Quiet Offseason
The Nets spent the offseason piecing together a new look, adding Julius Randle in a trade, signing Keon Ellis and Moe Wagner, and using the draft to bring in Mikel Brown Jr., Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau. After two seasons that produced a combined 118 losses, Brooklyn is betting that a mix of veterans such as Randle and Michael Porter Jr. and a handful of young prospects can at least move the group toward respectability.
Still, the real test is less about the names on the roster and more about what happens when the games start to count. Brooklyn opens preseason Oct. 6 against the Hornets, then gets Charlotte again in the home opener on Oct. 21, and those early dates should offer the first real clues about whether this quiet reset has enough structure to hold up once the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Porter Jr. Could Decide How Far The Nets Really Go
Brooklyns roster is starting to look more layered after the additions of Julius Randle and Mikal Bridges, but the real swing piece may still be Michael Porter Jr. Porter is heading into his second season with the Nets after a strong year in which he averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3 assists, production that gave the offense a reliable scoring outlet and helped shape what the team could do around him.
Now he enters the final year of his contract with the kind of platform that can change both his value and the Nets ceiling. If Porter stays on the same track, he wont just be one of Brooklyns most important players this season, he could also become one of the more closely watched free agents next summer, which makes his year a little more complicated than a typical contract season. [Read more 🡒]