On June 25th, 2024, Adrian Wojnarowski shocked the NBA world by announcing the Brooklyn Nets are trading their franchise player Mikal Bridges to their cross-town rival New York Knicks in a deal that brings back 5 first-round picks. An absolutely insane haul for a player that has never made an All-Star team.
The initial reaction to the trade was mixed. While many Nets fans wanted Bridges traded, they wanted him specifically traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for the Nets' first-round picks that were originally traded back in 2021 for James Harden. However, these concerns were immediately eliminated as Wojnarowski followed up with another announcement, that the Nets were acquiring their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks back from Houston in exchange for the Suns' picks acquired in the Kevin Durant deal in 2023.
These back-to-back trades brought life back to the Nets' fanbase, as many fans were feeling a sense of dread at the thought of running this team back with Bridges as the franchise cornerstone. Now, for the first time in decades, the Nets are allowed to tank and rebuild in peace, with their own first-round picks and the ability to draft high-end lottery talent in the stacked 2025 and 2026 drafts.
However, while Nets fans should absolutely be excited about the future, with the team having 15 first-round picks over the next 7 seasons, fans should also hold back and be ready for some disappointment going into next year's draft. While it’s been made clear that the Nets are intending to tank next season, even with the highest lottery odds to land the #1 pick, because of the flattened odds, there is a significant chance the Nets don’t end up landing the #1 prospect in the 2025 draft, Cooper Flagg from Duke.
These are the lottery odds for the team that has the worst record in the NBA:
While fans should be excited to land a top-5 pick after not drafting a lottery talent since 2010, do not expect that the Nets are going to get the #1 pick next season. It happened most recently in the 2024 draft: the Atlanta Hawks were not the worst team in the NBA, and they only had a 3% chance of getting the #1 pick, yet despite the odds, they were able to draft first overall.
The 2025 draft goes beyond Cooper Flagg, with players such as Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper from Rutgers also being premier talents. In my opinion, if the Nets can land a top-3 pick in next year's draft, all of these players have high upside and All-Star potential. Assuming the Nets are the worst team in the NBA next season, they will have a 40.1% chance of landing a top-3 draft pick. Even if the Nets fall to #5, Sean Marks has proven to be an excellent scout. Drafting high-end rotation players in the late first round or in the early second round, with Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, Cam Thomas, Nic Claxton, and Day'Ron Sharpe all being excellent players considering they were all drafted in the 20s or 30s.
Regardless of what happens, the Nets have a treasure chest of draft picks going forward and a ton of flexibility. The future's looking bright in Brooklyn.
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