Ranking the Nets’ Biggest Needs Before the NBA Draft

Evaluating what Brooklyn could look for at the 2026 NBA Draft.

Mar 18, 2026; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez coaches against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Brooklyn Nets are in a unique position, slated to grab a top pick at the 2026 NBA Draft, with ways to upgrade the team on the free agency and trade markets as well.

With that being the case, Brooklyn may not be long for a rebuild, able to move into next season more talented than last. Last year, they drafted a record five first-round picks, and they likely still trust their evaluation heading into the second year of those player's development.

Given that, we’ll evaluate three draft needs for the Nets, and how they could assess them on draft night: 

Talent

There’s plenty of sub-skills that the Nets can address at the ’26 draft, though more than anything the team simply needs to leave with talent.

Brooklyn won a lowly 20 games last season, with a combination of players both young and old. With the sixth pick, the Nets will be tasked with grabbing a building block with some star-power, which can ultimately be chalked up to a talent. 

Whether it’s a lead guard, scoring forward, shot-blocking center or anything in between, the front office should be looking to add the most talented player. Some of the top talents in their top-end range include Keaton Wagler, Mikel Brown Jr., Kingston Flemings and Aday Mara.

Offensive Versatility

Brooklyn ranked dead-last in points per game, dead-last in field goal percentage, dead-last in 3-point percentage and twenty-sixth in assists per game. More than anything, the teams needs top-end offensive juice that could cause a domino effect for other players.

Michael Porter Jr. saw a breakout scoring season at 24.2 points per game, and young players in Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Danny Wolf and more showed promise in their debut seasons. With a legitimate No. 1 or even No. 2 scorer, pressure could be taken off of the above.

Pluggable role players

In addition to the No. 6 pick, Brooklyn owns No. 33 and 43 in the second round. While the NIL landscape has thinned the second round out somewhat, the Nets will still be looking to add pluggable options.

As mentioned, the Nets can stand to add talent of any kind, but could be looking to add some more experienced and simply ready bets in the second round.

Players such as Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, UConn’s Alex Karaban, Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile and plenty more are scalable role players who could make a Year 1 impact in Brooklyn.