The Nets’ 2026-27 schedule doesn’t exactly roll out the red carpet. With a league-high 16 back-to-back sets, 11 of them involving a flight to the next stop, Brooklyn is staring at one of the league’s toughest slates. An Atlantic Division packed with title-caliber teams only makes the climb steeper.
Brooklyn opens on Oct. 21 against the Charlotte Hornets at Barclays Center, marking the first time since 2023 that the Nets will begin at home. The roster has a different look now, with Mikel Brown Jr., Julius Randle and Moritz Wagner among the new faces, but the real question is how far that upgraded floor can carry them.
Still, there are a handful of games that jump off the page. More than most, these are the nights that will tell us something about where this group is headed.
One of the earliest and loudest comes in November, when the Nets head to Madison Square Garden. That one carries extra weight after Joe Tsai wasn’t shy about the Knicks’ title run coming in a year when Brooklyn was clearly rebuilding. New York and Brooklyn were on opposite ends of the league spectrum last season, and that backdrop puts real pressure on the Nets to keep this game competitive.
Randle’s return to the Garden adds another layer. He made his first All-Star and All-NBA teams with the Knicks before helping lift them back into relevance, and now he walks in wearing the cross-town rival’s colors. With his history in New York - the good and the bad - this one means something.
The next headline-grabber comes against the 76ers, who turned plenty of heads by completely remaking their rotation. On paper, they may have the best starting five in the Eastern Conference, maybe the NBA: Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and Joel Embiid. The bench also looks deeper, with Anfernee Simons, Labaron Philon Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope among the names behind them.
Whether that group actually fits together is another matter. But everyone will be watching when Philadelphia shows up, because even the possibility of a superteam wobble will draw a crowd. For Brooklyn, it’s a brutal matchup - and a pretty clear spectacle with four All-NBA players on the other side.
There’s also a homecoming waiting for Nic Claxton, only this time he’ll be in a Bulls uniform. After seven seasons in Brooklyn, the 27-year-old is making his first NBA appearance away from the Nets, following the multi-team trade that sent him to Chicago and brought Randle back. That one should hit emotionally for both Claxton and the Brooklyn crowd, but it also has the feel of a game the Nets can actually battle in.
Then comes Minnesota, where Randle will see Target Center for the first time since his brief stint with the Timberwolves. He was there for just two seasons, but he was part of their memorable run to the 2025 Western Conference Finals.
The reception is the big question here, since fans in Minnesota were never quite as sold on him as the New York crowd had been, especially as his efficiency dipped over the last year. This nationally televised game has everyone wondering whether he gets cheers or boos.
Brooklyn’s final national TV spotlight is a little different, but no less intriguing. The Nets only have two games on national television, and one of them will feature a rookie matchup between Mikel Brown Jr. and Darius Acuff Jr. The two guards went back-to-back in the 2026 NBA Draft, and plenty of Nets fans wanted Acuff.
The Kings still bring some name value with Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine on the roster, while Brooklyn’s offense is led by Randle and Michael Porter Jr. Even so, the attention is going to land on Brown and Acuff, who are likely to spend plenty of the night matched up against each other.
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There is some real appeal in doing it now because the right kind of deal could make McBride more valuable around the league by giving another team cost certainty. New York would still have to thread the contract details carefully, but with McBrides current market value and contract expectations, a reasonable extension appears to be on the table while leaving the bigger decision for later. [Read more 🡒]