NETS INSIDER

  Injuries stink. They're also part of the game. The New York Knicks have tried to grind and battle their way through a whole host of injuries.  Between Julius Randle announcing before the playoffs he was lost for the year,  Bojan Bogdanović shutting it down after the first round series win over Philly, Mitchell Robinson going on the shelf after Game 1 against the Pacers, and  OG Anunoby's hamstring injury in Game 2 of the semi-finals series, it's been almost too much to take for Knicks fans.  Now, the team's emotional leader, Josh Hart, suffered a strained abdominal muscle on his left side. Hart tried to exit and re-enter two separate times during Friday night's Game 6, but he was unable to continue.  His status for Game 7 is uncertain. Even if Hart gives it a go, he'll likely be compromised and not the same hustle player fans have seen this entire tenure as a Knick.  So now the Knicks are staring at a Game 7 at home leaning heavily on their leader, J...

   The talk of the NBA world is the future of Donovan Mitchell in Cleveland. Reports have began to surface about Mitchell's rocky relationship with guard Darius Garland.  According to many media reports, if Mitchell is to consider signing a long-term extension with the Cavaliers, Garland would have to be moved.  It's unclear Mitchell's intentions at this point and whether the Nets would even be atop his list of trade destinations.  Clearly, if Mitchell has no intentions of signing long-term in Cleveland, his list of suitors will be long.  Expect the Lakers, Bulls, Nets and Knicks to be chasing his services among many others. Mitchell will be a free agent after the 2024-25 season and instead of losing him for nothing, Cleveland would opt to move him now for a combination of future draft picks and rotation players.  While Sean Marks can't get fixated on one player, the move that perhaps makes the most sense for the Nets is trading for a player like Garla...

  Donte DiVincenzo didn't pull any punches in Game 5 and he is not pulling any punches in his meme game.  Following the 121-91 win in Game 5 over Indiana at MSG, DiVincenzo took to Instagram to caught a stray via Instagram.  Donte DiVincenzo taking shots at Haliburton 👀😳 (Via @Divincenzo IG) pic.twitter.com/on7WR1qzLP — NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) May 15, 2024 New York can close out the series on Friday in Indiana. Haliburton had a down game with just 13 points and five rebounds.  Clearly, the Pacers star has bulletin board material that he'll need to use as inspiration when he returns to Gainbridge Fieldhouse.   

  The New York Knicks defeated the Indiana Pacers 121-91 to take a 3-2 edge in the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Tuesday night.  The series will turn back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana for Game 6 with the Knicks looking to close it out.  The Knicks have not been to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1999.  In that lockout shortened 50 game regular season, the Knicks advanced as the number 8th seed all the way to the NBA finals.   They eventually fell in five games to the San Antonio Spurs.  That feels like a lifetime ago, but the Nets best chance at a championship feels like yesterday.  Even with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets never even reached an Eastern Conference Finals.  In fact, the last time the Nets were in the Eastern Conference Finals was in 2003 when they were making their second of consecutive runs to the NBA Finals. Not since the team relocated to Brooklyn to start the 2012-13 season hav...

  It's almost indisputable that Jason Kidd's most productive years were with the New Jersey Nets. The same can be said for Vince Carter.  When Kidd was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, he was  enshrined as a Maverick. Yes, the team that drafted him and he won a championship with as a secondary star. Carter will also be going into the Hall with the team that drafted him, the Toronto Raptors. When Air Canada left Toronto, there was much vitriol from the Raptors fan base. So why is it that two all-time Nets will be memorialized in Springfield, Massachusetts, with another franchise?  It likely has a lot to do with the Nets running away from their history. Upon the move to New Jersey, the Nets did a terrible job of honoring the Long Island era of basketball. The same can be said upon the move to Brooklyn, when the Nets tried to treat the relocation as a rebranding of a new franchise.  As the years go on, and the Nets are further and further...

  It's about damn time. The Brooklyn Nets are late to the party, better late than never. Soon to be Hall of famer Vince Carter will have his name enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this summer.  Carter is an all-time legend, but somehow the Nets organization has waited all this time to lift his No. 15 into the rafters.  This latest tweet by the Brooklyn Nets indicates that a retirement ceremony could be in the offing.  Carter has already announced, despite his unceremonious departure from Toronto, that he will go into the Hall of Fame as a Raptor. 🎵 Hey Mr. Carter… pic.twitter.com/2qPq1DYvto — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 13, 2024 Perhaps if the Nets were a little more proactive and retired his number and honored one of the franchise's greats sooner, he may have gone in as in New Jersey Net. While this will be a bittersweet moment for the part-time YES analyst, many Nets fans have been hoping for this day for many years. As has been the case t...

  Kevin Durant is not a leader. Plain and simple: when things get tough, there's zero accountability from him.  That's why when he formed a big three in Brooklyn alongside Kyrie Irving and James Harden, things fell apart. Both Irving and Harden accept zero responsibility when things go sideways.  It's either changing area codes or changing coaches, not looking in the mirror for these mercurial stars.  It makes sense why Durant would want to play with two players with similar characteristics to his own. Devin Booker and Bradley Beal fit that mold as well.  Now in his second not even full season in Phoenix, the Suns just hired their third coach,  championship winning one at that, and dismissed him after only one season. Monty Williams was fired after a very successful run with the Suns including an NBA finals appearance in 2021. They are now rumblings that Durant has not exactly ingratiated himself to teammates in Phoenix. Stephen A. Smith: "Here's wher...