{"id":563043,"date":"2026-01-27T01:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/563043\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:21:16","slug":"nets-left-clinging-to-draft-lottery-hopes-as-dark-stretch-takes-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/563043\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets left clinging to draft lottery hopes as dark stretch takes over"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, the top two projected picks in the 2026 draft will face off when Kansas\u2019 Darryn Peterson and BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa meet at Allen Fieldhouse. The following Saturday, Duke\u2019s Cameron Boozer will battle North Carolina\u2019s Caleb Wilson in a matchup of projected top four picks.<\/p>\n

This is where the Nets must look to find hope this season.<\/p>\n

Only three weeks ago, Brooklyn was within one game in the loss column of the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference, threatening to derail the front office\u2019s overt tanking plans for the second straight season. The Nets had enjoyed a 10-game stretch in which they claimed seven wins, earning victories in Chicago (23-22), Philadelphia (24-20) and Minnesota (27-19), in addition to a 15-point home win over Toronto (29-19).<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Brooklyn Nets bench looking dejected during the fourth quarter against the Knicks on Jan. 21. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

Now, respectability is out of reach as the Nets (12-32) have descended back into contention in the draft lottery race by losing 13 of their past 15 games, moving them within two games of the Wizards (10-34), who own the NBA\u2019s worst win percentage. <\/p>\n

Washington and Indiana (11-36) are the only teams in the league with fewer wins, but the Nets could soon drop below them, having potentially already begun what could be one of their darkest stretches, with six losses by at least 16 points this month.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s current five-game losing streak started with a 22-point loss to the Bulls. The ultimate embarrassment came in a 120-66 loss to the reeling Knicks<\/a>, marking the second-worst loss in franchise history. The latest embarrassment came Sunday in a 126-89 loss to the Clippers<\/a>, when two Nets finished with double-digit points and second-year coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez bypassed his typical clich\u00e9s to \u201cimprove by 1 percent each day,\u201d describing the league\u2019s youngest team as playing like \u201closers\u201d for the majority of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to decide who we want to be,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cAnd it starts with everybody\u2019s focus and effort. You have to make sure you understand where your feet are. It\u2019s the most important thing right now.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2026 There\u2019s nothing better than competitive minutes to improve. Because if you play too many losing minutes, it can create a lot of bad habits.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, the Nets had the league\u2019s top-rated defense. Through 14 games this month, the Nets rank 29th in defensive rating, while the offense ranks last in the league, having averaged the fewest points (104.3) and worst field goal percentage (42.8) in the NBA, while ranking 28th in rebounding percentage.<\/p>\n

\"BrooklynBrooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas #24 reacts on the court during the second quarter against the Knicks. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Brooklyn plays the second game of its five-game road trip in Phoenix (27-19), which has lost back-to-back games and will be without star guard Devin Booker (ankle). Last week, the Suns \u2014 who are 1-4 without Booker this season \u2014 beat the Nets in Brooklyn 126-117 after jumping out to a 15-point first-quarter lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current Nets losing streak began after trailing by 19 in the first quarter in Chicago. Against the Knicks, the Nets trailed by 18 after one quarter. Against the Clippers, they trailed by 24 after scoring a season-low 14 points.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t take long to see how long the night in Phoenix will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with responsibility,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cWe\u2019ll move on. We\u2019ll learn from it. We\u2019ll hold each other accountable. And that\u2019s how it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, the top two projected picks in the 2026 draft will face off when Kansas\u2019 Darryn Peterson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,247,6,12,249,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-563043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn-nets","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft","12":"tag-nba-draft-lottery","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115964444189527705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}