[1] The Nets had the eighth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and selected Kerry Kittles out of Villanova University.
[2][3][4][5][6] In the off-season, the team signed free agents Robert Pack,[7][8][9] Tony Massenburg,[10] Xavier McDaniel, who played overseas in Greece during the previous season,[11][12] and David Benoit, who missed the entire season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
[22] At mid-season, the Nets traded Pack along with Shawn Bradley, Khalid Reeves and second-year forward Ed O'Bannon to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Sam Cassell, Jim Jackson, Chris Gatling, Eric Montross and George McCloud, who never played with the Nets and was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Joe Kleine.
[23][24][25][26] Gatling only played just three games after the trade due to an ear infection, and was out for the remainder of the season.
[39][40][41][35][36] Following the season, Jackson and Montross were both traded to the Philadelphia 76ers,[42][43][44][45] while Massenburg signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics, but was then traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies,[46][47] and Kleine signed with the Chicago Bulls.