The Brooklyn Nets are still in the early stages of its rebuild as it is trying to get back to the point where the franchise can compete for the playoffs and beyond. Brooklyn is still looking for its franchise player and the hope is that someone from the 2025 NBA Draft can be that guy. However, there is one outlet that doesn’t seem confident in the franchise’s rebuild.
“The Nets struck gold last summer when they hired coach Jordi Fernandez, who immediately proved himself to be an asset,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps wrote during his entry for the outlet’s future NBA power rankings. On ESPN’s list, the Nets ranked 27th out of 30 teams, showing that Brooklyn’s rebuild may not be as fruitful as the fanbase is hoping for.
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“But the Nets, who clearly targeted last season and this season to bottom out after reacquiring their draft picks from the Houston Rockets last summer, were one of several teams to have bad luck in the lottery by falling to eighth,” Bontemps continued. “The Nets, who have the league’s worst roster, are in the bottom 10 for a third straight year.”
In what is an interesting way to evaluate whether a franchise’s rebuild has a good chance of succeeding, ESPN ranks various factors of a team to come to their final ranking for an organization’s rebuilding success. For example. ESPN ranks Brooklyn No. 1 in terms of money, No. 2 in terms of draft capital, and No. 7 in terms of market. However, the franchise also ranks just 25th in management and 30th in players.
Since last summer when the Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for multiple first-round picks, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks has made it clear that future cap flexibility and acquiring draft capital were paramount for the rebuild. However, it seems that ESPN does not have much faith in Marks’ ability to get the job done, especially since the roster still doesn’t have a projected future All-Star on it at the moment.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets rank 27th in ESPN’s future power rankings 3 years from now