Over the past quarter of a century, few NBA teams rival the Brooklyn Nets in terms of disappointing results for fans and backers at NBA betting apps.
As part of a series, RotoWire has compiled the quarter-century team for the Nets. While we call it the Brooklyn Nets quarter-century team, you'll note that this starting lineup has much more of an East Rutherford flavor, dating to the end of the franchise's days as the New Jersey Nets (1977-2012).
Brooklyn Nets Quarter Century Team Members
This list comes from RotoWire, which gives you sports betting promotions and NBA fantasy updates. This list is meant to resemble a tradition basketball starting five, with two guards, two forwards and a center.
The then-New Jersey Nets started the 21st century on a strong note. They reached the NBA Finals two straight years under Byron Scott, and made the playoffs in each season from 2001-02 to 2006-07. That included four division titles.
Since then, though, the Nets have had more misses than hits. They made the playoffs three straight years after moving across the Hudson to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 campaign, but the Nets only won one series in those seasons.
After another lull, Brooklyn made the postseason five straight seasons and created NBA betting excitement by bringing James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant together. However, the trio never made it past the Eastern Conference semifinals before reverting to rebuilding mode.
Jason Kidd (2001 to 2008)
The Hall-of-Fame point guard led the Nets to their two Finals appearances, where they were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002 and fell in six games to the San Antonio Spurs a year later. Kidd ranks second to Buck Williams in win shares among the franchise's players. He also owns the team's all-time records for assists (4,620), steals (950) and triple-doubles (61). Kidd returned to the franchise as head coach for the 2013-14 season. He led that team to a second-round appearance, but his tenure ended after just that season as he lost an internal battle with then-general manager Billy King over roster control.
Vince Carter (2005 to 2009)
One could make a case for Kyrie Irving at the other guard spot, but we'll go with Vinsanity here. Carter's 23.6-point scoring average in his five seasons with the Nets was the highest he had for any team in his 22-year career. He also represented the team at two All-Star Games. With 8,834 points, he ranks third on the franchise's scoring list. His best season came in 2006-07, when his 25.2 ppg ranked eighth in the league. Carter also just missed out on a couple of All-NBA honors while with the Nets, finishing 17th in voting in 2004-05 and 19th a season later.
Richard Jefferson (2001 to 2008)
Jefferson started his 17-year career with the Nets and played for them during his first seven seasons. He finished runnerup in the 2001-02 Rookie of the Year voting to Pau Gasol. On the Nets' all-time lists, Jefferson ranks ninth in games played (489), but he's fourth all-time in minutes played (17,499) and in points (8,834).
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Kenyon Martin (2000 to 2004)
Martin played the first four seasons of his 15-year NBA career with the Nets, where he averaged 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Like Jefferson, the forward was the runner-up in the Rookie of the Year voting, behind Mike Miller, in the 2000-01 season. While Martin was effective on offense, he was even better on defense. He finished ninth in Defensive Player of the Year voting for the 2003-04 season, when he averaged 9.5 rebounds per game and earned his lone All-Star nod. He also had two seasons where he ranked in the top five for Defensive Rating and two seasons in the top 10 for Defensive Win Shares. Those kinds of metrics often can give bettors at sportsbook apps an edge when they wager on hoops.
Brook Lopez (2008 to 2017)
The only player in our lineup whose Nets career spans both sides of the Hudson River, Lopez is the franchise's all-time leader in scoring (10,444) and blocks (972). The 7-foot-1 post player had four seasons where he averaged 20 points or better per game, and he ranked in the top 20 in league scoring three times. Unlike the others on this team, Lopez did not enjoy much postseason success with the Nets. That came when he joined the Milwaukee Bucks; there, he helped win an NBA Title in 2021, by which time online sportsbooks were widely legal and regulated nationwide.
