The Brooklyn Nets have not been playing the way they were hoping for since the calendar turned to January, but the good news is that the All-Star Break should serve as a reset of sorts. Brooklyn dealt with some injuries heading into the All-Star Break, specifically to forward Michael Porter Jr., but the Nets are slightly moving up in the power rankings prior to the Break.

“The Nets held onto Michael Porter Jr. at the deadline, a possible indication that they intend to be competitive in the 2026-27 season (with no control of their ’27 first-round pick),” John Schuhmann wrote for NBA.com. Schuhmann ranked the Nets 26th in his latest power rankings pointing to the fact that Brooklyn is still regarded as one of the worst teams in the league despite the fact that they didn’t trade Porter away.

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“They added some second-rounders by helping teams duck the luxury tax and decided that Cam Thomas would be one of the players they waived to create the requisite roster space,” Schuhmann continued on his view of what Brooklyn did at the deadline before noting how the Nets are committing to playing the rookies more. “Brooklyn now ranks second (behind Charlotte) in the percentage of its minutes (29%) that have come from rookies.”

When Schuhmann wrote this version of his power rankings, the Nets had not yet played the Chicago Bulls or Indiana Pacers at home prior to the All-Star Break coming around. Brooklyn was able to beat the Bulls 123-115 on Feb. 9, but the Nets dropped the ball against the Pacers on Feb. 11 as they lost 115-110 despite leading by as many as 18 points in the contest.

Ultimately, the Nets have 29 games left to play for the rest of the season and with all of the talk surrounding the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards when it comes to tanking, Brooklyn seems to be sticking to their usual rotation when those players are healthy. However, with the Nets having the fifth-worst record in the NBA heading into All-Star Break, it will be interesting to see if the team gravitates towards playing the younger players more down the stretch.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets rank 26th in NBA.com power rankings heading into All-Star Break