How the Brooklyn Nets Almost Became Known As the Swamp Dragons

Back in the mid-1990s, the Nets were one vote away from one of the coolest rebrands in sports. Thirty years later, the franchise is celebrating that lore.

The Nets are hosting a Swamp Dragons Night during a matchup against the Clippers at Barclays Center on Jan. 29. | Brooklyn Nets / X

Finally, one of the biggest “what ifs?” in NBA history is getting the attention it deserves.

The Nets announced Wednesday they will host a themed night dedicated to the Swamp Dragons as part of their six-game “eras nights” promotional campaign throughout the 2026-27 season. Swamp Dragons Night, an event Nets fans (as well as sports logo sickos) have been dreaming about for years, will commence during a matchup against the Clippers at Barclays Center on Jan. 29.

If this article is the first you’ve ever heard of the lore between the Nets and the Swamp Dragons, welcome. Take a seat. Make some room in that closet for some merch you’ll want to get your hands on in about five minutes.

No, the “Swamp Dragons” isn’t some old-timey nickname that you’ll see in the baseball archives from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, like when the current-day Guardians were known as the Cleveland Naps from 1906 to ’14, or when the Dodgers were dubbed the Brooklyn Bridegrooms in 1889 and ’90. 

The Nets almost became the Swamp Dragons in the mid-1990s.

Jon Spoelstra, the father of longtime Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, was the Nets’ team president in the early 1990s known for his bold marketing techniques. So bold, in fact, that in 1983 the Pacers pulled off one of the oddest trades in NBA history and sent guard Don Buse to the Trail Blazers for “cash and other considerations.” Those “other considerations” were the rights to get marketing consultation from Spoelstra, then the Trail Blazers’ vice president of marketing, for one week.

Anyway, the Nets in the early 1990s were having trouble putting butts in seats. The crosstown rival Knicks were in the heights of the Patrick Ewing era at the time, and fans just didn’t want to come out to New Jersey. Spoelstra saw the team’s bland branding as an issue.

“We had no redeemable history,” Spoelstra told ESPN in 2016. “We had never won anything, and our name—it was like calling the Yankees the ‘New York Second Bases.’ The team never had a chance with that name.”

The Nets’ promotional poster for Swamp Dragons Night on Jan. 29. | Brooklyn Nets

In 1994, Toronto’s incoming expansion team chose the name “Raptors,” inspired by the 1993 classic movie Jurassic Park, over other finalist nicknames including Huskies and Dragons. Spoelstra loved the idea of having a team named the Dragons, and he tacked on “Swamp” to the front based on the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Although Spoelstra told ESPN that NBA commissioner David Stern called the Swamp Dragons “the stupidest f---ing idea I’ve ever heard,” he didn’t shut it down. The Nets began plotting the rebrand further and chose a teal, purple and black color scheme. They sketched out potential logos, jerseys, court designs and other merchandise. 

SWAMP DRAGONS FOREVER. https://t.co/uHBrFNukxM pic.twitter.com/FaaBzsvIR4

— NFL Fashion Advice (@fashion_nfl) September 2, 2026

In order to get the green light and go ahead with the name change, the Nets needed support from the league’s other 27 owners. They received overwhelming support in a 26–1 vote. The problem? The only team to vote against the idea was, in fact, the Brooklyn Nets. Despite all seven Nets owners previously agreeing to approve the rebrand, it was David Gerstein’s turn to vote that day—and he got cold feet.

“We voted against our own name change,” Spoelstra told ESPN. “I thought he was kidding. If your own team votes no, you can't go ahead with something like this.”

There you have it. The Nets remain. But at least the Swamp Dragons are getting the attention they deserve for one glorious January night, 30 years later.

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