History of the Brooklyn Nets
[1] The team was first initially named the New Jersey Freighters due to one of the team's owners also being the president of nearby Manhattan's ABC Freight Forwarding Company before being renamed initially as the New York Americans; Brown intended for it to play at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan, but pressure from the New York Knicks of the older National Basketball Association (NBA) forced the Armory to back out three months before opening day.
[3] After a planned permanent move to Newark, New Jersey fell through, the team opted to stay at the Long Island Arena for the second year and changed its name to the New York Nets.
Led by an ABA top 3 scoring guard Levern Tart, the Nets finished in fourth place and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in the 1969–70 season, and attendance went up threefold to 3,504.
Tragedy struck the Nets on the afternoon of June 24, 1975, when forward Wendell Ladner was killed when Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 crashed after being caught in severe wind shear upon final approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Due to the team's low attendance and poor financial picture on Long Island, Boe decided to move the franchise back to New Jersey prior to the 1977–78 season, this time keeping the Nets name there.
All-Star Micheal Ray Richardson flunked a drug test for the third time and was banned from the league for life,[21] and star center Darryl Dawkins only played 39 games due to a back injury.
[23] New Jersey acquired Orlando Woolridge and drafted Dwayne "Pearl" Washington in hopes of strengthening the faltering team, yet the season only brought more misfortune to the Garden State.
[21] Hoping to maximize the team's health in the upcoming season, the Nets traded injury-plagued Dawkins in a three-way deal that brought John Bagley and Keith Lee to New Jersey.
The Nets selected Dennis Hopson (over Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller and Kevin Johnson) as the third pick of the 1987 NBA draft in hopes of re-establishing a stable backcourt.
[25] Hopson was never able to live up to the organization's expectations[26] and subsequent first round draft picks Chris Morris (1988) and Mookie Blaylock (1989) also failed to reverse the team's descent.
In 1995, Coleman was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the poster child of the selfish NBA player, with Anderson, Benoit Benjamin, Dwayne Schintzius and Chris Morris among the mentioned athletes.
On June 2, 2000, the Nets hired as the team president Rod Thorn, a longtime NBA executive best known for drafting Michael Jordan while he was the Bulls' general manager.
One day after the draft, on June 28, 2001, Thorn traded all-star Stephon Marbury and role player Johnny Newman to the Phoenix Suns for all-star/All-NBA point Jason Kidd and Chris Dudley (whom the Nets later released).
In front of a home sellout crowd, the Nets led by nine points with five minutes left in regulation; however, Reggie Miller made a 35-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
The move to improve the team did not work, as Mutombo sat out most of the season with a wrist injury, and received little time in the playoffs due to differences with coach Byron Scott.
They defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs four games to two, then swept the Celtics and Detroit Pistons in consecutive series to advance to the 2003 NBA Finals, this time facing the Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs.
They traded Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin to the Clippers and Nuggets respectively and released Rodney Rogers and longtime Net Lucious Harris, because new owner Bruce Ratner was unwilling to pay the remainder of their contracts.
With Krstić returning from injury and the additions of All-Star center Jamaal Magloire and first-round pick Sean Williams (who was regarded as the best shot blocker in his draft class), the Nets were anticipated to remain a contender in the East.
The situation did not improve much, and the season ended up being filled with negatives: a nine-game losing streak for the Nets, a controversy in regards to Jason Kidd skipping a game due to a migraine, the trading of their franchise player, and not making it to the postseason for the first time in seven years.
On February 19, 2008, Jason Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright were traded to the Dallas Mavericks for future Nets All-Star Devin Harris, Keith Van Horn, Maurice Ager, DeSagana Diop, Trenton Hassell, $3 million, and 2008 and 2010 first-round draft picks.
After failing to make it to the playoffs, team president Rod Thorn promised changes would be made, while Coach Lawrence Frank vowed that "a season like this will never happen again" under his tenure.
Devin Harris made his first All-Star team and narrowly missed winning the NBA Most Improved Player award, and Brook Lopez finished third in Rookie of the Year voting.
[73] This created a starting lineup that had a combined 35 All-Star appearances,[74] with Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Pierce, Garnett, and Brook Lopez together forming a new NBA "superteam".
[75] The Nets also signed Alan Anderson, Shaun Livingston, All-Star Andrei Kirilenko, and first-round draft pick Mason Plumlee to add further depth to the bench.
[76] The 2013–14 season started poorly for the Nets, with rookie coach Jason Kidd facing difficulties adjusting to his new job, and with injuries affecting the team's ability to field a consistent lineup.
After waiving Joe Johnson and Deron Williams, on January 10, 2016, the Nets announced that they had parted ways with head coach Lionel Hollins and general manager Billy King.
[94] During Nets free agency in the summer of 2016, the team started and have nearly completed their rebuilding process by acquiring through sign or trade deals the following; Randy Foye, Anthony Bennett, Trevor Booker, Luis Scola, and Jeremy Lin.
During this time, the four picks Brooklyn traded to Boston for Garnett and Pierce would turn into Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Collin Sexton.
[103] The Nets hired retired Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash to be their head coach in the 2020 off-season to replace Kenny Atkinson who resigned midway through the previous season.
On February 10, the Nets traded Harden and Paul Millsap to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for All-Star Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks.
