Brooklyn Nets 2024-25 Season Preview

Starting today, each day for the next 30 days, it’s season preview time! I hope no real changes happen once I start releasing, though. In each preview, there will be a quick season and off-season recap. The preview will be looking at what’s in store for the team. It’s looking at some questions, things to look forward to, digging deeper into some of them. At the end, there are final thoughts with predictions for the standings, the floor, the ceiling, playoff chances, and some other fun tidbits!

Here’s a video if you prefer that!

Season & Off-Season Recap

They finally did it. We obviously don’t know if these offers were available to them earlier in the year, but this should’ve been done before this off-season.

Two seasons ago, they dealt with the whole Kyrie Irving situation, trading Kevin Durant, but because of when they did so, and how Mikal Bridges looked, they made the playoffs — they did get swept, though.

They went into the year with an average team. They had a bunch of solid players in a vacuum that can be impactful on good teams. There was still the whole question of can Bridges be the guy. Ben Simmons was meant to play more. There was Cam Thomas’ potential.

And the more important thing was the fact they had no draft picks this season. They ended up with the third overall pick, with the Rockets selecting Reed Sheppard. There was no incentive for them to be bad or tank. But at the same time, there probably wasn’t any incentive for them to keep all of the players, considering the reports that there were suitors for a lot of them.

In the end, they pulled the trigger. This team wasn’t going to compete for anything.

Bridges have shown that the stretch at the end of the previous season wasn’t likely going to stay. A whole bunch of dropoffs in many areas — his scoring went down(27.9 → 20.9 per 75) , his tough shot-making and pull up shooting wasn’t great(50.8% → 40.5% pull up 2s), the passing leap didn’t happen, the foul drawing dropped a lot, and his efficiency was below average.

The rest of the team just didn’t have the upside or the potential to do anything on offense or defense to elevate the team to a different level. That’s why they were 22nd in net rating, 23rd on offense, and 20th on defense. Not the worst, but not even average.

So, they had as good of an off-season as they could get. They traded Bridges for a haul — I do think the Knicks overpaid.

• Bojan Bogdanovic

• Mamadi Diakite

• Shake Milton

• 1st round pick in 2025, 2027, 2029, 2031

• Unprotected swap in 2028

• Top four protected 1st round pick in 2025 via Bucks

• 2nd round pick in 2025

That’s five firsts and a swap(plus a veteran that can be rerouted later for more assets. This is one hell of a return. Also, with Bridges traded, they now essentially turned Durant into that above and:

• Cam Johnson

• 1st round pick in 2023, 2025, 2027, 2029

• Unprotected swap in 2028

• 2nd round pick in 2028, 2029

That’s still 10 picks from just Durant.

But equally important, they made a trade with the Rockets to acquire their 2025 and 2026 pick back — the Rockets had the right to swap. That gives them full control of their draft in the following two years, which is the most important thing.

Their off-season wasn’t about making moves for anything other than helping their long-term vision to rebuild. This was needed and they’re in a much better place than they were at the end of the season. They finally have both the direction and the assets to make that easier.

Key Questions & Storylines

• Will they finally sell on all of the veterans?

• Is there potential for a leap from Thomas?

• WILL BEN SIMMONS FINALLY BE HEALTHY?

• Something, something, I don’t even know at this point

The Nets clearly have set themselves up for the future. They got their picks back, so they can effectively tank for the best possible pick. They got a lot of assets from other teams to draft more young players or even acquire some. They potentially have four picks in the 2025 draft.

But in terms of this season, which players will survive the whole season?

They have three players over 30 Bogdanovic, Dorian Finney Smith, and Dennis Schroder. They have a few mid to late 20s in Ben Simmons, Shake Milton, and Nic Claxton. Then the youngest in Cam Thomas, Ziaire Williams, Keon Johnson, Trendon Watford, Noah Clowney, and Dariq Whitehead.

There’s no core here. Their rotational players that are legit NBA quality starters are either the old veterans or the mid-20s guys. All of which, they should consider moving. There is no reason the three vets should stay on this team beyond the deadline — that may include Johnson and Claxton, for the right price.

That’s five players that either should definitely be moved or considered. Either way, they’re probably not part of the future, their core, or anyone to invest time in.

Then does that mean it’s all about the Thomas show? He did lead the Nets in shot attempts. He became their starter. He almost doubled his minutes, scoring, assists, and rebounding. But how much of that is simply more opportunities and more touches? He does have a 30% usage!

Even then, what’s the vision here? He shows he can put the ball in the basket when he gets 18 shots inefficiently. The passing and the tunnel vision hurts a lot. Almost a third of his shots are pull-ups where he shoots 44%. He’s a poor off-dribble shooter from 3pt. A quarter of his offense comes with 7+ dribbles.

He’s going to be 23, so there’s still time but there’s a lot that he needs to improve on to be an impactful player or someone that should be part of a future core. Right now, it’s known that he can score 22 points on 18 shots, but what else is there?

Outside of him, what else is there? Is it Simmons finally being healthy enough to play? I do hope that he does. I do want to see him at least play basketball at this point.

Predictions

• 15-20 wins

• Floor(worst case scenario): Bottom of the league

• Ceiling(best case scenario): Bottom of the league but got more assets!

There are zero expectations for this team, even if they keep the whole team. They aren’t going to be better than what they were last year. They have the incentive to tank this year. They will likely sell the most impactful players for more assets and more young players.

Maybe depending on what the package is for some of the vets, there might be some fun games where there’s meaningless basketball and we get March stat lines.

But I do hope that all the vets will get moved(some could be nice elsewhere). If they somehow keep all of them again after all of the rumors, then it’s questionable. However, last year was a completely different situation.

Their season is honestly all about Thomas, potential breakouts from other young players into rotational players, and tanking for 2026. That’s the most important thing.

They will honestly be the least-watched team for me this year.