Brooklyn Nets Could be Set for Another Surprise Start

The Brooklyn Nets aren’t expected to do much this season, but that won’t keep them from having some exciting moments.

Last season, the Nets were a fun surprise over the first few weeks of the season. With guys like Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith in the mix early, the Nets were able to get out to a relatively hot start, at least compared to expectations.

The highlight of the Nets’ early season success came when they swept a three-game West Coast swing in late November to get within a game of .500 at 9-10. From there, Brooklyn only got worse, but it was an intriguing storyline in the opening weeks of the year.

Going into the 2025-26 season, the Nets might not even expect to have nine wins by the time they get to the end of December, much less getting there in November as they did a year ago. However, this Nets team isn’t so much different that they couldn’t have a fun early-season start.

Of course, with a myriad of rookies for Jordi Fernandez to incorporate and some new veterans still learning how to gel together, there likely won’t be much room for a similar start as far as the standings go. Yet, the team has the talent to keep games close throughout the early portion of the schedule.

Sure, at some point, the Nets will probably pack it up and begin sitting their veterans in favor of giving extended run to the rookie class, but they’d be wise to at least avoid throwing the young players into the fire at the beginning of the season. With Michael Porter Jr., Cam Thomas and others looking to have some big years to secure their future contracts, it might not be too far-fetched to see Brooklyn put some scares into teams in October and November.

Playing in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn’s schedule is naturally weak, which isn’t always the best thing for a tanking team. However, the Nets should still be able to compete with the worst of the worst for the top odds in the lottery.

With Sean Marks ensuring there were an abundance of moving parts this offseason, a full training camp with some preseason contests won’t be enough for everyone to be comfortable. All signs point to the Nets being quite bad this season and perhaps championing the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, but don’t be too surprised if the franchise is competitive in just about every contest early in the year.