For now, the Nets are out of contention in the play-in round, so it seems appropriate to look to the future — especially with their next three games against solid teams in the playoffs.
The problem is that the future doesn’t look much better than the present.
Their record puts them in line for the No. 8 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, which went to Houston as a result of the trade that brought James Harden to Brooklyn. The same goes for the 2026 first-round pick.
The Nets’ next first-round pick will be in 2025, which Phoenix picked in the Kevin Durant trade, meaning it will likely be late in the first round.
The future of the Nets this season does not seem to be easy.
The Nets are coming off a road trip in which they dropped five of six games and will host Zion Williamson and the Pelicans, currently the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, on Tuesday.
That will be followed by a trip to Milwaukee and a game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
So while the Atlanta Hawks continue to underperform, which gives Nets players optimism about extending the season beyond mid-April, the numbers aren’t encouraging. .
But while a play-in-verse may seem unrealistic for the Nets right now, because it’s no good getting hung up on how precarious the situation is, Cam Thomas doesn’t think it’s out of reach. I believe not.
“We’re still fighting for the last spot in the play-in, so whatever we have to do, we’re just going to pull together and come out with a win, because we’re right there,” Thomas said Sunday. He talked about the Nets, who are 4.5 games behind Atlanta for the final play-in spot.
They’re still looking at the standings, which shows Atlanta can’t pull them away, which even the Nets are surprised by.
“No matter how many times we lose, we’re still there. It’s crazy, honestly,” Thomas said. “If it was any other team, we wouldn’t be able to do it. But we’re still there, so that’s a plus.”
That will be a target for new head coach Kevin Ollie.
“I really like our game,” O’Ree said after the loss to San Antonio. “I liked the way we played tonight and you know it’s going to be a battle for the rest of the games. I think the attention to detail was great tonight. We want to continue that and give us a chance to win. We gave ourselves that. That’s all we could ask for as coaches and as a coaching staff.”
Thomas is also trying not to give up on the rest of the season.
“We just have to find a way to string these wins together and close out games to have a chance,” Thomas said. “The season is still alive for us [14] remaining games. It takes so long for us to shake something up, so we just have to make it happen. ”
— Additional reporting by Brian Lewis
