The Brooklyn Nets are the team of the hour, and all for the wrong reasons. Having been methodically picked apart by the Celtics, the Nets find themselves unceremoniously shunted from the playoffs without a win, and the critics are out in full force. Charles Barkley has already laid into the team and its stars quite a bit, even earning the ire of Kevin Durant, who responded on social media on Tuesday.
But before this particular saucy retort from Durant, Barkley had offered the Nets some more insight into what he thinks next season might look like for the franchise. Following the sweep, Barkley questioned what players would even want to play for the Brooklyn Nets on Inside The NBA. That, he suggested, is the biggest issue facing the Nets right now as they prepare to retool and go again next season.
"Who's going to want to play on that team?"
Chuck talks challenges Nets face moving forward 👀 pic.twitter.com/ka2bs8U2nS
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 26, 2022
“The problem they got going forward, three guys are gonna be making $50 million. Now, how they’re going to find those other pieces, is going to be the question. That’s gonna be the question going forward. Who’s gonna wanna play on that team? You gonna have a bunch of mediocre players, you gon’ have two guys who are great players, and Ben, we don’t know where the hell he’s at.
“But they’re gonna have a hard time winning with just three players… So I think the hardest thing for this team going forward is, ‘Where are we going to get players?’ That, to me, is gonna be the most important part going forward.”
Considering the turmoil within the Nets organization, this isn’t exactly a bad take from Barkley. Goran Dragic spoke after the loss about the many difficulties the Nets faced this season, and that could prove to be a deterrent in terms of attracting new talent. But however bad the situation might be right now, role players will always want to join superteams if they can, and despite their recent poor play, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving together with Ben Simmons make the Nets a superteam.
