The Brooklyn Nets have gone through an eventful regular season so far. There was a point where they looked like the best team in the Eastern Conference, but injuries and Irving’s erratic availability saw them go on an 11-game losing skid which put them right in the play-in spots. Their Big 3 broke up too, with James Harden getting traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Suffice to say, Nets fans don’t really have much of an idea of what to expect from their team this season, but with Durant having returned from injury, they’re definitely still a potent threat to any team in the East. The conference has been a bloodbath all season long and although the Miami Heat now has some cushion as the 1st seed, it’s difficult to tell where the other teams will end up in the seeding.
And CJ McCollum has spoken about how this situation for the Nets is a concern for other top teams in the East on the Pull Up Podcast, pointing out that none of them would want to face Brooklyn in the first round of the playoffs, considering that their roster still includes some of the best players in the entire league.
“I think a lot of teams are going to try to avoid them. In the event that the Nets finish up as the eighth seed, they probably play the Toronto Raptors, who are the seven seed. In the event that they beat them, which I think they would, they would secure the seven. Which means the two seed would get the reward of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving.”
The Nets are currently 2.5 games behind the 7th seeded Toronto Raptors and 4.5 games behind the 6th seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, which would be quite a difficult gap to fill with the remaining games they have. A play-in spot looks most likely as they try to integrate Ben Simmons into their team but if they can be ready in time for the playoffs, they might just make it all the way despite being a fairly low seed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltRnJ1zCBgY
