Joe Tsai’s blunt assessment of the Knicks’ championship run may have landed as a shot across the river, but the bigger question for Brooklyn is whether it can turn that sting into something useful.
Tsai called New York’s title run “embarrassing” to his franchise on Tuesday, and the contrast between the two teams is impossible to miss. The Knicks just won the “Best Team” award at the ESPYS after a historic playoff march that ended with a championship, a 16-3 record, back-to-back sweeps in the semifinals and Eastern Conference Finals, and a league-best point differential of +283.
Some of that success, though, is tied directly to Brooklyn’s own decisions. General manager Sean Marks dealt Mikal Bridges to the Knicks in June 2024 for five picks, and Bridges responded with 13.5 points per game while shooting 36.5% from three this postseason.
While the Knicks climbed to the NBA’s biggest stage and finished the job, the Nets have spent the last two seasons in a tanking cycle. Tsai said New York’s rise doesn’t change Brooklyn’s rebuilding path, but former Nets power forward Buck Williams thinks the owner’s comments should do more than just annoy people.
“You’ve got to have a competitive team in New York,” Williams said on SiriusXM. “The rebuilding process they have is, I think, heading in the right direction, but I think they also have to bring some other pieces in where they can be a little more competitive.”
Brooklyn tried to do exactly that this offseason by adding veteran help to raise the floor and give the roster more answers against top-tier opponents. The biggest move was bringing in Julius Randle in a four-team trade.
Randle brings shot-making, physicality, and a body built for playoff basketball at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds. He has also been there before, with four postseason appearances on his résumé, something this young roster has lacked. The Nets have now missed the Play-In for three straight seasons, and that absence of proven talent has shown.
The draft brought another major piece of the rebuild. Brooklyn selected Mikel Brown Jr., after entering with tied-for-the-best odds to land the No. 1 pick before sliding to No.
- Brown can score at all three levels and was mentored by Rajon Rondo during his time at Louisville, giving the Nets a point guard with real upside.
Defense remains the concern, but summer league offered a glimpse of what he can become on that end. He showed better team defense than expected, jumped passing lanes for steals, and worked through screens with some real savvy by getting skinny.
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