G League Watch: Long Island Nets Play First Home Game in Canada

The Long Island Nets, the Brooklyn Nets' G League developmental team, kicked off their first stretch of games playing at home — but in in Laval, Quebec, Canada.

Long Island are playing six games on the outskirts of Montreal this season, which means that the team will affectionately be ‘Les Nets’, paying homage to the French-speaking culture in the region, during that stint. The Nets' first contest on Canadian soil ended in a 131-122 win for Long Island, defeating the also-local Raptors 905.

Killian Hayes led the way with a 26-point, 18-assist double-double. The French point guard accompanied that with five rebounds, four steals and one block. Tyson Etienne paced the team in points, dropping 29, while Drew Timme added 25.

Oshae Brissett, Long Island's most recent signing, contributed with 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench. The 26-year-old was an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics last season. Brissett, who is from Toronto, signed with Long Island on Jan. 22. Relatedly, The Nets requested waivers on KJ Jones II.

Long Island’s games in the Montreal area are a first for the G League. Place Bell, a 10,000-seat arena that hosts the Laval Rocket team from the American Hockey League, is the Nets’ “home” while in Canada. Long Island has played at the Nassau Coliseum since 2017. The Coliseum also hosted the New York Nets (how the team was known in the late 1960s and late 1970s) from 1972 to 1977.

In August 2024, the Nassau County Legislature approved a proposal to lease the Coliseum's property to the Las Vegas Sands company for 42 years. Sands wants to build a casino and resort at the Coliseum. The project on the 72-acre site would reportedly be priced at $6 billion. It has been met with some local pushback regarding environmental and infrastructural concerns. The Village of Garden City, in Nassau County, has filed a lawsuit to stop the proposed casino.

The Nets have another interesting, although seemingly indirect, link to Sands. The team's two preseason games in Macao next October — which are significant in that they mark the NBA's return to China — will take place at the Venetian Arena, “which is part of the [...] Sands conglomerate.”

Miriam Adelson, whose real time net worth is placed at $31.5 billion by Forbes, is the majority owner of Sands. The Dallas Mavericks are owned by the Adelson and Dumont families, following the approval of a sale last December. Patrick Dumont, who serves as the Mavericks' governor and “was an integral driver of the NBA's new Macao partnership,” per ESPN, grew up in Brooklyn. Last June, the NBA rejected a report claiming that Adelson, a Republican mega donor who attended President Trump’s most recent inauguration, was “not allow[ed]” to be the team’s governor because “her political reputation was apparently so radioactive.”

The Nets are also connected to Canada. Team owner Joe Tsai is a naturalized Canadian citizen, and Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernández is also the head coach of the Canada men's national team.

The Nets' first game in Montreal evidently went very well, with a win and a debut attendance of 7,750. Long Island are now on a four-game winning streak. The team's next game will also be in Laval, a rematch against the 905 Raptors on Sunday.

Want to join the discussion? Like Nets on SI on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Nets news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.