Brooklyn Nets' Lack of Star Power Will Continue to Hurt

Brooklyn has been the East’s worst team through two weeks, and its lack of star power will likely ensure that remains the same.

Over the first six games of the season, the Nets have gone winless. Still searching for their first win on Sunday night, the Nets hosted the Philadelphia 76ers.

One of the league’s hottest teams to begin the year, the 76ers came into Brooklyn and steadily built their lead in the first half. With a sizeable margin by halftime, it didn’t take much for Philadelphia to fully blow the game open in the third and fourth quarters.

One of the key forces in the 76ers’ win was, of course, Tyrese Maxey. The All-Star guard didn’t have to put up another 30-point night in Brooklyn, but his 26 points, six rebounds and seven assists were more than enough to get his team across the finish line.

Although it’s not exactly a new issue, the Nets simply didn’t have any answers for anyone on the 76ers. Brooklyn’s awful defense allowed a 29-point night to Kelly Oubre and a 22-point night to Quentin Grimes.

Still, it’s hard to imagine those performances are coming without Maxey’s presence and passing ability. That might be the biggest problem facing the Nets this season as they are still searching for their first win.

Maxey’s impressive ability is something that the Nets can’t match on the other end because of their own lack of star players, and it’s also something Brooklyn can’t do much about defensively because of its lack of good defenders. Although Maxey actually had a pretty tame game, it’s because that’s all he had to do against a Nets team that will likely finish with the worst record in basketball.

Although the Nets will be facing some injury-riddled teams over the next week, even guys who are typically co-stars should have no issues putting up big nights against Brooklyn. With Julius Randle, Pascal Siakam, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson all set to face the Nets over the next week, the imbalance of star power should be on full display.

While Cam Thomas can look like a star with his scoring output on occasion, and even Michael Porter Jr. can have some moments, Brooklyn simply doesn’t have the type of player who can impact winning at a high level yet. Considering where the Nets are, that will be less of a problem as the season goes along and more of a solution as the team dives even deeper into its tank.