“The Nets were a nice idea that never materialized” - Nick Wright says the Brooklyn Nets have been mismanaged from top to bottom over the last 3 years
The Brooklyn Nets were supposed to be the next big super team but never gained the traction they needed. NBA analyst Nick Wright argues that mismanagement in the organization is the reason behind their underwhelming performances.
Wright said:
“I think they have mismanaged it top to bottom, every step of the way for the last three years, and now their final stroke of mismanagement, they are going to lose KD and Kyrie … The Nets were a nice idea that never materialized.”
The 2019 NBA free-agent class was arguably one of the biggest we have seen, with Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Kyrie Irving all up for grabs. Somehow Brooklyn managed to get both KD and Kyrie to begin what was supposed to be a great era for them.
After two years went by with no results, James Harden was acquired, but again, the hope that the Nets had finally cracked the code came to naught. Harden left for Philadelphia. Now, both Kevin Durant and Kyrie are rumored to be heading for the exit door as well.
A team with such talent should have challenged for the championship, but astonishingly, the Brooklyn-based side imploded.
Nick Wright's argument for organizational mismanagement appears to be true. The 2018-19 Brooklyn squad prior to Durant’s arrival was full of young, up-and-coming talent that brought themselves into the playoffs.
The irony is that the 2018-19 Brooklyn squad landed more playoff wins (one) than the 2021-22 squad with Durant and Irving.
This reads as though there is something desperately wrong with the Brooklyn organization. They traded away their entire core at the threshold of building a squad to be proud of for KD and Kyrie. However, both of them to want to leave three years later.
It is not their fault, either. The organization simply failed to make the moves around, or for, the players they needed around the superstars. They should have kept some of their core, they should have made sure they kept both stars happy so their futures remained intact. The Nets should have done a lot of things.
Yet they did not, and now they stand on the brink of being a broken organization again.
Seeing KD and Kyrie in the same squad together was something to marvel at, regardless of how little time they spent together. Wright is correct, they are a "nice idea that never materialized," as the public wished to see the superstars on top of their game together.
With the experiment not panning out and Durant on the out, Brooklyn is attempting to get the best value they can in return for Kevin. That way they can start rebuilding their future again, and probably start out even farther behind than they were in 2018.