Brooklyn Nets: Player Transactions and NBA Results
The Brooklyn Nets History and Highlights.
The Brooklyn Nets are one of the most popular NBA teams, especially after moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn in 2012. They compete in the Atlantic Division of the NBA’s Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Founding and Early Years
The team was founded back in 1967 and have played in two leagues and four cities under two different names. The Brooklyn Nets have won 2 ABA league titles and are yet to win one in the NBA.
After establishing, the team competed in the ABA league under the name New Jersey Americans. The following season, the team relocated to Long Island and changed their name to New York Nets.
Julius Erving was the first superstar of the team. Joining the Brooklyn Nets in 1973, he was the best player in the league and took The Nets to the championship in his very first season with the team. The Nets defeated the Utah Stars in the finals by 4-1.
Two season later, the league changed the shot clock from 30 to 24 seconds, but that didn’t hold off the Nets from winning their second title. They defeated the Denver Nuggets 4-2 in the finals.
Shortly after the merger of the ABA and the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets moved to New Jersey, where they played from 1977 to 2012.
Erving Leaving
With Erving leaving the team to join the Philadelphia 76ers, the Brooklyn Nets winning days were over. In the next 25 years, they made 10 Playoff appearances advancing to the second round only once in the 1983-84 season.
Early 2000’s
Going into the 2001-02 season, the team acquired point guard Jason Kidd who would become the leader of the team. That was the best Nets season for the Nets since 1976. It would also be the last one in which they won more than 50 games in the regular season until they repeated the same in the 2021-22 season.
Kidd paired up well with the first overall pick of the previous year Kenyon Martin, and they were one of the most attractive tandems in the league. On their way to the finals, the Nets defeated the Indiana Pacers, Charlotte Hornets, and Boston Celtics, losing only 4 games in total. In the finals, they faced the Los Angeles Lakers with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant and were swept in four games.
The following season, the Nets brought in one of the best defenders at the time, center Dikembe Mutombo. The Nets had an even better road to the NBA Finals, losing two games in the opening round to the Milwaukee Bucks and then sweeping the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons. This time, they collided with the San Antonio Spurs in the finals, 4-2.
The 2010’s
The Brooklyn Nets added Vince Carter to the team, who was a great addition next to Kidd, but the Brooklyn Nets couldn’t go past the second round in the following four seasons.
In 2012, the team moved to Brooklyn. At Draft night in 2013, they decided to go all-in and traded for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry from the Celtics. This trio was added to Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, and Brook Lopez, quickly creating the best team in the league, at least on paper. Jason Kidd was now the coach of this team, but things didn’t work so well as the Nets. The team didn’t make it past the second round of the Playoffs in the next two seasons with the veterans on the team.
After a couple of seasons missing the Playoffs, the Brooklyn Nets signed two of the biggest stars in today’s game in 2019, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Both players have won NBA Championships with their previous teams, and were expected to bring the same in Brooklyn. In 2021, they brought in the former MVP James Harden, but the big three failed to win a championship for the Nets.
In 2021-22 season, Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons. The Nets were swept in the opening round to the Boston Celtics, but the team’s core will remain together, hoping to finally bring the title to Brooklyn.
