Nets Recently Competitive With NBA's Top Teams

Brooklyn hasn't been winning much, but the team is still competing well with the league's best.

Mar 15, 2025; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Cameron Johnson (2) reacts during the second half against the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images

As the Brooklyn Nets sit with 15 games left in the regular season, their season is practically over at 22-45, being extremely close to elimination from postseason contention. The focus is now shifting to the NBA Draft, as the Nets are the 13th seed in the Eastern Conference with top-five odds at the No. 1 overall pick.

Brooklyn was in contention for the Play-In Tournament not too long ago, but a seven-game losing streak allowed the Chicago Bulls to build a sizeable lead at the 10th seed. Now, the expectations from the beginning of the season are a reality: the Nets will once again not being playing postseason basketball, rather focusing on the rebuild.

While the Nets sit toward the bottom of the NBA, they've shown great flashes of competitiveness, especially during last night's 115-113 loss to the Boston Celtics. Despite being without Cam Thomas, Brooklyn put up a fight, one that head coach Jordi Fernandez was particularly proud of.

Over the last few weeks, the Nets have faced the Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Lakers, some of the league's best teams. They've gone 1-4 in those four games, with the win coming against the Lakers. However, Brooklyn lost those four games by an average margin of 4.3 points, showing that the team can still hang around with the best.

Fernandez has a lot to do with the Nets' recent performances against such teams. The first-year head coach has brought out the best in his group despite having extremely limited talent. Brooklyn was expected to be one of, if not the worst team in the league before the start of the regular season, but Fernandez kept the Nets in Play-In contention for the greater part of the year.

It also helps that Brooklyn has a mix of experienced veterans. The Nets mix a young core with players such as Cam Johnson, D'Angelo Russell, and Nic Claxton, all with great experience in and out of the playoffs. They also had Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith for a good chunk of the season before they were traded in December.

Brooklyn is losing in the best way possible: keeping it close but not close enough to win and hurt its lottery odds. As the regular season winds down, the hope is that the Nets continue this trend and get some lottery luck for June.

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