The Nets went into this season with two jobs:
Give their rookies loads of taking part in time to develop. And tank for lottery odds to draft another impression rookie in June.
They’ve carried out both. They had the youngest team in the NBA this season, and led the league in minutes logged by rookies. And at 20-62, they’ve clinched third in the lottery standings, with the prime three all having equal odds.
“Yeah, the minutes they’ve played are super valuable,” said coach Jordi Fernández. “And all of them, the two-ways, the 10-days, younger guys, everybody who has performed here, all these minutes matter.
“There’s no one game that it’s not valuable. And NBA minutes are so hard; there’s only 30 teams, it’s the best league in the world. And for these guys to showcase what they can do, everybody has done positive things. So I’m happy that they’ve taken advantage of these minutes.”
The Nets ended the season with a 136-101 loss in Toronto.
Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez greets Brooklyn Nets guard Ochai Agbaji (30) during the second half at Barclays Center, Sunday, April 5, 2026, in Brooklyn, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Two-way Tyson Etienne led them with 20 factors, 4 assists and two steals, while undrafted rookie Chaney Johnson added 16 factors and 13 rebounds. First-round choose Ben Saraf fouled out with 15 factors, 4 assists and two steals.
“I’m obviously happy with the development of our young guys,” GM Sean Marks instructed YES Network.
“Knowing that our objective this year was to have the young guys play and play real NBA minutes. That was the No. 1 priority in between the G-League and the development there and also here. We now lead the league in rookie minutes the whole year, so that’s exactly what we wanted to do.”
The Nets are one of three groups with the most 14 % odds at successful the lottery, and a 40.1 % likelihood at a prime three draft choose.
Their most doubtless draft slots are sixth (26.0) or fifth (14.8). They can’t fall under seventh, and the draft is regarded as falling off after the prime seven prospects.
The Nets have won the lottery in 1990 (Derrick Coleman), 2000 (Kenyon Martin) and 2017, but they had traded the latter choose away to Boston (who used it to commerce down for Jayson Tatum).
Meanwhile, the No. 3 lottery spot has been fortunate of late. Minnesota won the lottery in 2020 (Anthony Edwards) and San Antonio three years later (Victor Wembanyama). Last yr, Charlotte really fell to draft fourth, but Kon Knueppel had a historic season and is the Rookie of the Year front-runner.
The Nets should be so fortunate.
Trevon Scott began after being signed Sunday morning.
His 10-day contract expired, but the Nets inked him on what a supply instructed The Post was a hardship deal that only coated Sunday’s sport against Toronto.
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