The Brooklyn Nets are one of 30 franchises in the NBA that have had their moments as one of top teams in the Association, but that kind of standing has come few and far between. When someone thinks of the best teams in NBA history, they will usually think of the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers well before getting to a team like Brooklyn.
Now that the 2023-24 season is officially over with the Celtics beating the Dallas Mavericks to win their 18th championship, Bleacher Report has done its rankings of the best NBA teams. This may not be a shock to most Nets fans, but their franchise came in 26th place, far behind where any franchise wants to be.
To be clear, the Nets rank ahead of the following franchises: Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Charlotte Hornets on this list. The history of the NBA is interesting as there have been 79 champions crowned with two of the 30 teams (Celtics and Lakers) that have combined to have won 35 of those titles.
To get back on track with the Nets, it makes sense that they are one of the lower-ranked franchises as they have not won a championship since it was founded in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The Nets have made the NBA Finals twice in its history (2002 and 2003), but they were swept by the Lakers in 2002 and lost in six games to the San Antonio Spurs the following season.
Some of the best players in NBA history have played for the Nets from guys like Jason Kidd and Julius “Dr. J” Erving to modern greats like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. However, in the big picture of things, the Nets have not done much in the NBA and here’s what B/R’s Andy Bailey had to say about their ranking on this list:
“They made back-to-back Finals in the early 2000s with Jason Kidd, but the East was even weaker in the post-Michael Jordan vacuum than it is now. And Brooklyn went 2-8 in those series against the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. That era was fun, though, especially when Kidd had good finishers to distribute to like Kenyon Martin, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson. It just wasn’t enough fun to overcome being 28th in both winning percentage and SRS.”
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