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2024-25 NBA Season Preview: Brooklyn Nets

Matt Hanifan / NBA / October 23, 2024

2024-25 NBA Season Preview: Brooklyn Nets

The 2024-25 NBA season has officially arrived! To continue our team preview series, we will be delving into the lowly Brooklyn Nets, who traded away their star wing this offseason. Let’s jump right into it!

What happened last year?

The Nets were hoping to take a step forward in the first full year of Mikal Bridges after squeaking into the postseason last year. That did not happen, as they finished 32-50 with bottom-third rankings in NET Rating, offense and defense. It was not a fruitful season, nor a great trade deadline while having multiple tradable contracts that general manager Sean Marks seemingly couldn’t find the right deals for.

Offseason Recap:

The Nets entered the offseason stuck in the middle; they didn’t have the personnel nor the assets to significantly improve without trading Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith or Cam Johnson. Of course, Bridges was, by far, the best asset amongst the trio, and the New York Knicks certainly thought so too. Brooklyn ended up flipping Bridges to their crosstown rival for four unprotected first-round picks, one protected pick plus another protected swap–plus Bojan Bogdanovic. They also got their own first-round pick back from Houston moments after their first deal–a slam dunk move. That doesn’t even account for Nic Claxton’s bargain four-year contract, which will look better as time goes on. They also hired head coach Jordi Fernandez, a well-respected assistant who recently became the head coach of Team Canada and helped lead them to their first FIBA World Cup medal ever. Brooklyn accomplished exactly what they wanted to from a rebuilding standpoint.

Projected Starting 5:

Dennis Schroder, G – Schroder will be the Nets’ primary initiator offensively, posting 14.6 points and 6.0 assists after being traded from Toronto to Brooklyn ahead of last year’s deadline.

Cam Thomas, G – Thomas led the Nets in scoring this year and will have even more leeway to get up as many shots as possible. Even if he didn’t, he’d still do it anyway.

Cameron Johnson, F – Johnson is the Nets’ top 3-point shooter, having knocked down 40.7 percent of his team’s six 3-point attempts per game over his last three seasons. Since he’s toward the top of the pecking order, I don’t expect him to maintain that level of efficiency, but I expect him to be a quality 3-point shooting wing.

Dorian Finney-Smith, F – Finney-Smith is one of the most attractable trade assets, given his 3-and-D pedigree plus his team-friendly contract. Don’t expect him to spend the entire season here.

Nic Claxton, C – Claxton’s biggest deficiency is his shooting, but he is a very versatile multi-positional defender who’s excellent around the rim.

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Notable Reserves:

Ben Simmons, F – Simmons has only played 57 combined games each of the last three seasons after reaching that threshold in four consecutive seasons. Can he get back on track in 2024-25?-

Bojan Bogdanovic, F – Bogdanovic is one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA, but he’s not getting any younger, entering his age-35 season.

Noah Clowney, C – With Day’Ron Sharpe missing the first few weeks with a hamstring strain, Clowney is expected to get backup big minutes off the bench. In only 24 games, he averaged 5.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in just 16.1 minutes. I expect him to take advantage of a bigger opportunity this season.

Biggest X-Factor: Sean Marks

Brooklyn got their pick back, sure, and they are in no position to compete this season. If general manager Sean Marks can somehow continue to stack as many assets as possible heading into the offseason, they will be in a favorable position moving forward.