Three takeaways from Brooklyn Nets’ 2023-24 schedule
The Brooklyn Nets schedule for the 2023-24 season has now been released and like every season, there are certain things to take away from their regular-season slate. This season will be something different from what Nets fans are used to because of the team not having championship expectations for the first time in a few seasons.
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden are no longer in Brooklyn and while the core of the team now, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Nic Claxton, are formidable, it’s clear that the Nets do not have superstars anymore, at least at this current time.
With that being said, this upcoming season will be about how this current team grows over the course of the campaign and if a massive trade can be pulled off in the meantime. Here are three takeaways from the regular-season schedule that awaits the Nets in just a couple of months from now:
In-Season Tournament
This will be the first time that the NBA is implementing the In-Season Tournament to add some interest and competitiveness to the middle of the season. With the way that the tournament is working, games against the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, and the Toronto Raptors will hold more weight than usual.
Returns Of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving
Kevin Durant and the powerhouse Phoenix Suns come to Barclays Center on Jan. 31. Given the drama that happened during Durant’s tenure, usually because of someone else, his return should be interesting to see for those who are die-hard fans of the Nets.
Kyrie Irving and his Dallas Mavericks visit Brooklyn a week after Durant on Feb. 6 and like Durant’s return, this game will be televised on national TV for everyone to see how the Nets fans receive Irving after everything that happened during his time with the team.
In terms of competitiveness of the matchups, Brooklyn should have a better chance of winning against the Mavericks than the Suns since Phoenix is considered a championship contender at this point. Most of the national intrigue will be about Durant and Irving, however.
Less National TV Games
As of right now, the Nets have 11 games that will be broadcast on national TV (thank you to Bill Difilippo of Uproxx.com for putting the list together). This ranks Brooklyn 19th in the league in terms of national exposure and while that’s nothing to sneeze at, it’s a far cry from where the team was last season.
Going into the 2022-23 season, the Nets had 23 nationally televised games, according to a list put together by Brett Siegel of si.com. That was the 11th-most national TV games in the league.
It seems that the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have dampened the league’s interest in showing off the Nets. Brooklyn is also not expected to be a contender so it makes sense that they would not get as much national coverage as the Denver Nuggets or the Boston Celtics, for example.
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