Expectations for the Brooklyn Nets 2024-2025 Season

The Brooklyn Nets open the 2024-25 season with little to no expectations after finishing 32-50 last season. Brooklyn enters this year with a rookie head coach in Jordi Fernandez. Fernandez was an associate head coach with the Sacramento Kings last season. Brooklyn traded Mikal Bridges across town to the Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic and draft picks.

The Nets also re-signed center Nic Claxton to a four-year $100 million deal. One of the big questions for the Nets will be if Fernandez, who is known to develop players. Can he do exactly that with players like Cam Thomas, who has already proven himself as a scorer, but can he get out of double or triple teams and improve his maturity? Most importantly, can he become the leader that Brooklyn hopes he can become? Thomas, 22 years old, averaged 22.5 points last season. That was an 11.9-point increase which was the biggest of any player in the league.

While the Nets are not expected to be good this season, the good news is that they will not be judged on their season record. Instead, they will be judged on whether they are improving, playing together, and being somewhat competitive to show future free agents around the league that they are trending in the right direction. Brooklyn is expected to have between $44 million to $65 million in cap space in the offseason.

The best news is that Brooklyn finally has their own draft pick through 2031 which makes it imperative that they tank for a top draft pick and build the team from there. If GM Sean Marks was able to build a contender with zero of his own picks, there is no doubt that he will be able to do it again this time with his own selections.

Another big question for the Nets this season is what they will get from Ben Simmons and can he stay healthy. Simmons spoke about this at media day in September. He said, “I think people forget me as a player when I’m healthy. I can play basketball. I’m pretty good.”

Well, let’s see it. No one is expecting him to go back to his days when he first hit the scene in Philadelphia, but can he stay healthy and show signs of the player we thought he could be?Simmons has missed 189 of 246 games for Brooklyn and Philadelphia over the last three years. In fact, the Nets have been on a 45-win pace when he plays and 35 when he does not.

If Simmons does in fact get hurt again, it could benefit the Nets by helping the tanking effort. On the other hand, if he's his old self that he says he is, maybe they could trade him at the deadline to a contender and get something in return. Otherwise, he will most likely walk in free agency. Brooklyn also has some other veterans who are in the final year of their contract including: Dorian Finney-Smith, Dennis Schroder, and Bojan Bogdanovic.

Bogdanovic is still recovering from surgeries he had in the offseason and has not been cleared for five-on-five contact. How soon will these veterans be shipped out of town? For Marks, it will come down to the quantity and quality over how long it takes. Cam Johnson is the only veteran who is not on an expiring deal.

While this season will be long one filled with dark days ahead, especially with the team across the East River contending for a championship, the two questions that will keep people from tuning out is: will this team improve throughout the season, and where will they finish in the draft order?

More Nets news and rumors: