The Brooklyn Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn heading into the 2012-13 NBA season as they saw the opportunity to tap into a different section of the New York market. Brooklyn hasn’t had much success since moving outside of when the Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving were in town, but it seems like the franchise is not moving anytime soon.
“I ask about it all the time. I love the idea. I have been pressing for that. I haven’t made a lot of headway yet, maybe in my second 100 days,” New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said during a press conference to mark her first 100 days in office. Sherrill’s press conference covered a wide range of topics regarding New Jersey, but towards the end, she was asked about bringing the Nets back. It seems like the Nets aren’t going back to New Jersey anytime soon, however.
“But a league source that spoke with the Post said there were no plans for the Nets to leave Barclays Center. ‘They’re perfectly happy in Brooklyn,’ the highly-placed league source told the Post,” Brian Lewis of the New York Post reported on Thursday. Due to a variety of factors, most notably the fact that the New York Knicks have been entrenched in New York since 1946, some around the league have theorized that the Nets should go back to New Jersey.
The best era in Nets history arguably happened during the early 2000’s when the franchise appeared in the Finals in back-to-back years in 2001 and 2002. The organization made a resurgence from 2012 to 2015 when various coaches, including franchise legend Jason Kidd, led the team to the playoffs but the furthest the Nets could make it was the second round of the 2013-14 playoffs.
After a few years of rebuilding, the Nets rose back to prominence beginning with the 2018-19 campaign as Kenny Atkinson was able to lift the team back to the playoffs, setting up the franchise to attract the likes of Durant and Irving to Brooklyn before Harden was acquired from the Houston Rockets via trade. The rest of painful history for Nets fans, but it seems like there’s more to in Brooklyn for the organization, despite Sherrill’s hopes.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets happy with Brooklyn despite NJ Governor Mikie Sherrill’s hopes
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
