The Nets are in the midst of a rebuild and experts project them to be one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Bookmakers are predicting them to simply be the worst.
But the actual young people who are part of the youth movement see opportunity there.
And they’re going to fight for it.
“I look at it as a positive, and I’m going to make the best of every situation,” second-year big man Noah Clowney said Wednesday at Brooklyn’s summer basketball camp. “Yeah, we’re young, and when you look at our guys, you might think we can’t compete, but that doesn’t mean we should just go out on the court and keep losing.
“So we’re young and I think we can grow together and build something together. That’s the goal.”
Brooklyn has made clear its intentions to rebuild since pulling off two stunning trades this offseason (getting back first-round draft picks in 2025 and ’26 from Houston, then trading Mikal Bridges to the Knicks in exchange for five first-round picks and a swap).
According to FanDuel and BetMGM, the star-less and young-player-focused Nets are projected to win just 19.5 games, the worst in the NBA.
They have a staggering eight players on their roster who are 23 or younger, making Clowney and Darik Whitehead two of the youngest players in the league.
Clowney just turned 20 during the Las Vegas Summer League. Whitehead’s 20th birthday was Aug. 1.
But one man’s failure is another man’s opportunity to prove himself.
“Absolutely,” Jalen Wilson told the Post, “Obviously, I think we all knew that going into summer league in terms of all the young guys having a chance to actually play this year, so I’m just trying to take every day that I’m given and every opportunity that I’m given as a blessing and take it all in.”
“It started with summer league, and now it’s summer, you go to training camp and stuff like that. It’s about taking advantage of the opportunity. All a kid in the NBA wants is an opportunity to play and a chance to show what he can do.”
Wilson and Trendon Watford are both 23 years old and rank highly among the young players.
Half the participants are so young, they’re not all that different from the campers Clowney, Wilson and Keon Johnson coached at nearby Hellenic Classical Charter School.
Johnson, just 22 years old, joins Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Zi’air Williams as they look to capitalize on their newfound opportunity.
He entered Summer League as an unrestricted free agent and received a two-year, $4.5 million contract.
“I feel like I’ve been a pillar of the work that I’ve done over the last few years,” Johnson said. “Ever since I got drafted, I’ve had my ups and downs, but I just kept working my way through it and hopefully one day my turn will come and I’ll get the opportunity that I have now.”
