Brooklyn Nets

• 1. Introduction

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  The Brooklyn Nets entered the National Basketball Association in 1976 by paying $4.8 million for the right to exist in New York. That sum, demanded by the New York Knicks, carried an explicit label: an invasion fee. To cover it, the franchise sold Julius Erving's contract to the Philadelphia 76ers. Erving had just led the team to the final championship in American Basketball Association history. The following season, the Nets finished with the worst record in the NBA.

  That crisis is a window into a franchise built on displacement, reinvention, and interrupted promise. How did a team born in a New Jersey armory become a Brooklyn institution? What has driven six decades of owner changes, arena moves, and roster overhauls? And why, despite reaching championship rounds multiple times, have the Nets never won an NBA title? The answers run through some of basketball's most storied names and some of its most audacious business decisions.

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• 2. Julius Erving's Court

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  Julius Erving's tenure with the New York Nets lasted three seasons, from 1973 to 1976. In that time, the Nets won the ABA championship in 1974 and again in 1976. Erving won the ABA Most Valuable Player award three consecutive years from 1974 through 1976. The ABA later named him the league's All-Time MVP and placed him on the ABA All-Time Team, both in 1997.

  By 1972, the franchise had settled at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, where it played through 1977. At the 1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest, Erving won the competition outright. His 1974 championship had come at that same Long Island arena.

  Rick Barry joined the Nets in 1970 and earned All-ABA First Team recognition in both of his seasons with the team. Barry was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. Guard Bill Melchionni was named to the All-ABA First Team in 1972 and appeared at three consecutive ABA All-Star Games between 1971 and 1973. Melchionni's number 25 was retired by the franchise in September 1976. Erving's number 32 was retired on the 3rd of April, 1987, more than a decade after his final season as a Net.

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• 3. Two Finals, No Title

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  Jason Kidd joined the New Jersey Nets for the 2001-02 season, and the team reached the NBA Finals that year. The Nets returned to the Finals the following season, 2002-03, but fell short both times. Kidd's arrival transformed a struggling franchise into a consistent playoff contender.

  Kidd's individual records remain the franchise benchmarks. His 4,620 assists are the most any Net has recorded in regular season play. His 950 steals also stand as the franchise record. The All-NBA First Team honored Kidd in 2002 and 2004; the All-NBA Defensive First Team honored him in 2002 as well. Head coach Byron Scott earned the right to lead the Eastern Conference's All-Star squad that year.

  Vince Carter arrived from Toronto via trade in 2004, adding offensive depth to the franchise through the mid-2000s. Carter logged 8,834 points as a Net, placing him third on the franchise's all-time scoring list behind Brook Lopez and Buck Williams. Kidd's number 5 was retired on the 17th of October, 2013. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

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• 4. The Brooklyn Identity

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  Public address announcer David Diamante introduced the Nets' new mascot on the 3rd of November, 2012. His declaration set the tone: 'Here to defend Brooklyn, he's the BrooklyKnight.' The costumed superhero had been lowered from the ceiling of Barclays Center amid sparks and fanfare. BrooklyKnight was co-created by Marvel Entertainment, a sister company to the Nets' NBA broadcast partners at ABC and ESPN. The character also starred in a 32-page comic book published by Marvel, titled BrooklyKnight #1, written by Jason Aaron with art from Mike Deodato. He was retired after just two Brooklyn seasons.

  'Brooklyn: Something To Lean On' was introduced that same night. Written and recorded by Brooklyn-born musician John Forte, the anthem's refrain carries a 'Brooklyn' chant that became a signature sound at Barclays Center.

  In 2018-19, the Nets wore a black uniform with stylized Brooklyn camo patterns honoring the Notorious B.I.G. A 2020-21 City uniform honored Brooklyn-born artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, featuring 'BKLYN NETS' written in Basquiat's style and multi-colored striping. The 2019 Statement uniform featured 'BKLYN' lettering in a graffiti style designed by Eric Haze.

  Fan culture took organized form in November 2012 when Udong 'Bobby' Edemeka founded the Brooklyn Brigade. He noticed the team lacked a solid fan base and began purchasing tickets for roughly 20 fans drawn from the NetsDaily fan blog, in whatever seats he could find. During the conference semifinals in 2014, CEO Brett Yomark noticed the Brigade's energy and began distributing Nets apparel in Section 114. In the 2018-19 season, the Nets formally designated Section 114 as 'The BK Block.'

  Bruce Reznick, 90 years old, became a season ticket holder in 1998 and built his reputation on a practice known as the whammy. He stands in view of opposing players during free throw attempts and tries to distract them with pointing, jumping, and yelling. By the 11th of January, 2023, opposing teams had shot only 70.3 percent from the free throw line at Barclays Center. That figure sat about eight percentage points below the league average for that season. Before receiving the 'Mr. Whammy' nickname from broadcaster Ian Eagle, Reznick had been known simply as 'Red Shirt.' In 2026, Reznick and his late wife Judy were added to the James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

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• 5. An Ownership Carousel

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  Arthur J. Brown, a trucking magnate, founded the franchise in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans. He sold it the following year to entrepreneur Roy Boe for $1.1 million. Financial losses during the Long Island years led Boe to move the team back to New Jersey in 1977. A year later, he sold the franchise to a group of seven local businessmen. They called themselves the 'Secaucus Seven,' led by Alan N. Cohen and Joseph Taub.

  The Secaucus Seven held the franchise for roughly two decades. In 1998, they sold it to a group calling itself the Community Youth Organization, led by Raymond Chambers and Lewis Katz. The new owners wanted to relocate the team to Newark, New Jersey, but that plan fell through. They partnered with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to form YankeeNets, a holding company that eventually also included the New Jersey Devils. That partnership produced the YES Network, which still carries Nets broadcasts today.

  Tensions within YankeeNets eventually fractured the group. In 2004, real estate developer Bruce Ratner purchased the franchise for $300 million. The winning bid defeated competing offers from Charles Kushner and then-Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey. Ratner intended to move the team to Brooklyn, to an arena that would serve as the centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards development.

  Rapper Jay-Z held a minority ownership stake from 2003 to 2013 and was a leading figure in marketing the franchise's Brooklyn transition. He relinquished his stake after registering as a sports agent with Roc Nation Sports. His shares were eventually sold to Will Pan, a singer, rapper, actor, and entrepreneur. Pan became the first American of Taiwanese descent to own a professional sports franchise in the United States.

  On the 24th of September, 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, whom Forbes described as Russia's third-richest man, confirmed his intention to become majority owner of the Nets. Prokhorov became the principal owner on the 11th of May, 2010. He funded a $700 million loan for the construction of Barclays Center. In late 2017, Prokhorov agreed to sell a 49% stake to Joseph Tsai, the executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group. Tsai exercised his option to become the full owner in August 2019 and separately bought Barclays Center from Prokhorov for nearly $1 billion. The NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale on the 18th of September, 2019. Former Turner Broadcasting president David Levy was named CEO of the Nets and Barclays Center as part of the transition. He stepped down from that position on the 12th of November, 2019, less than two months into the role.

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• 6. Rivals and Grudges

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  Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin anchored the New Jersey Nets when their rivalry with the Boston Celtics ignited in the 2002 conference finals. Trash talking from the Celtics' camp, who claimed Martin was a 'fake' tough guy, preceded the series. Celtic fans chanted 'Wife Beater!' at Kidd during games, a reference to a 2001 domestic abuse charge against him. When the series moved to New Jersey, Nets fans held signs referencing Pierce's 2000 nightclub stabbing. Pierce had been stabbed 11 times in that incident. Martin addressed the atmosphere in plain terms: 'Our fans hate them, their fans hate us.' Bill Walton, broadcasting at the time, called Nets-Celtics 'the beginning of the next great NBA rivalry.' The Nets won that series, then swept Boston in the first round of the 2003 playoffs.

  On the 28th of November, 2012, an on-court altercation led to the ejection of Rajon Rondo, Gerald Wallace, and Kris Humphries. Rondo was later suspended for two games; Wallace and Kevin Garnett were fined.

  Kyrie Irving joined the Nets in the 2019 off-season after two seasons with the Celtics. During a regular-season game in 2019-20, Boston fans chanted 'Kyrie sucks' at TD Garden. Two days later, when the game moved to Brooklyn, Nets fans responded with chants of 'Kyrie's better.' On the 30th of May, 2021, Irving stomped on the Celtics' center-court logo following a Nets victory and a 3-1 series lead. A fan responded by throwing a water bottle at Irving at TD Garden.

  Richard Jefferson's go-ahead shot with eight seconds remaining in Game 6 gave the Nets a 98-97 win over Toronto. The 2007 first-round series ended with the Nets winning four games to two. It was the first playoff meeting between the two franchises.

  In 2014, the rematch went to seven games. Masai Ujiri, the Raptors' general manager, made derogatory remarks about Brooklyn at a fan rally outside Maple Leaf Square in Toronto before Game 1. He apologized publicly at halftime. Paul Pierce's game-winning block in Game 7 gave the Nets a 104-103 victory. When the two teams met again in 2020, Toronto swept Brooklyn four games to none.

  The Knicks-Nets rivalry operates along borough lines, with the Knicks playing at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Media observers have compared the pairing to other New York borough rivalries: the historical Dodgers-Giants baseball feud, the Yankees-Mets dynamic, and the Giants-Jets football competition. Some have called the matchup the 'Clash of the Boroughs.' The New York Islanders played at Barclays Center from 2015 to 2021, giving the arena a second active professional team during those six seasons.

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