The Brooklyn Nets spent last season near the bottom of the NBA, and this offseason they’ve tried to make sure that doesn’t become a habit. Between the trade for Julius Randle and the selection of Mikel Brown Jr., Sean Marks has been busy adding real talent to a roster that needed it badly.
There’s reason for optimism in Brooklyn. The mix of veterans and younger players with upside has given the fanbase something to latch onto, and strong Summer League showings from Brown and Egor Demin only added to that buzz. On paper, the Nets look like a team trying to move forward, not stand still.
CBS Sports, though, isn’t buying much of that momentum just yet. In its way-too-early power rankings for next season, Brooklyn landed all the way down at 29th, with writer Brad Botkin offering a skeptical view of the roster.
That placement feels harsh, especially when teams like the Kings, Grizzlies, and Bulls were slotted ahead of them. Botkin’s concerns about the Nets are understandable, but ranking them as the second-worst team in the league seems to undersell what Marks has assembled. Brooklyn has flaws, sure, but it also has enough depth to potentially outplay some of the weaknesses that show up on paper.
No one is pretending the Nets are about to become a powerhouse. The goal is much more modest: stay in the hunt for a play-in spot and keep pushing the rebuild in the right direction. Still, putting them at 29th out of 30 teams feels like a stretch given the pieces now in place.
Brooklyn has legitimate scoring with Michael Porter Jr. and Randle. It has promising young guards in Brown and Demin. And the bench has a chance to be better than expected after the additions of Keon Ellis and Mo Wagner.
If nothing else, the Nets can use this kind of ranking as motivation. They’ll need plenty of that if they want to start stacking wins and speeding up the rebuild.
In Other News...
Nets Guard Nolan Traore Offers Encouraging Injury Update
Nolan Traore has been on the sideline this summer while he works back from knee surgery, but the early signs around his rehab have been encouraging for the Nets. The guard has not appeared in summer league action, yet the team has been monitoring his progress closely as he continues to push toward full basketball activity.
Sean Marks said Traore is expected to be ready for training camp in the fall, which matters because Brooklyn has a real competition brewing at point guard. Traore is in the mix with Mikel Brown Jr. and Ben Saraf for minutes next season, so getting him healthy in time to join that battle is a key part of the picture. [Read more 🡒]
The Nets Have One Problem They Must Solve Before 2027
Brooklyns offseason has already brought in some notable new pieces, with Julius Randle arriving and Mikel Brown Jr. joining the mix as the Nets look ahead to 2027. Even with those additions, the bigger question hanging over the roster is the same one that has dogged the team for a while: how to turn a high-volume perimeter attack into something far more efficient.
Last season, the Nets kept firing from deep but did not get nearly enough return on those looks, and the result was an offense that lagged behind the rest of the league. If Brooklyn is going to climb back into the postseason picture, the improvement has to start with the shot that has been most inconsistent, because roster upgrades only go so far if the spacing and accuracy never catch up. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Face A Defining Michael Porter Jr. Decision
Michael Porter Jr. arrived in Brooklyn from Denver and immediately gave the Nets the kind of scoring punch that changes how a roster looks on paper. He posted his best season yet, averaging nearly 25 points per game, which is why his name has already become central to the way the franchise is thinking about its next move.
The Nets have also brought in Julius Randle, a sign they are at least aiming to be competitive next season, and that makes Porters place on the roster even more interesting. Brooklyn now has to decide whether he is part of the core it wants to build around or a valuable asset to move while the market is still strong, with the answer tied to how aggressively the front office wants to chase wins right away. [Read more 🡒]