NEW YORK — New York desperately needs another sports championship because, with all due respect to NYCFC, there are New Yorkers in their 30s who weren’t old enough to (legally) enjoy an adult beverage during the last celebration.
So in this market, yes, such an accomplishment by the Brooklyn Nets, as far-fetched as it may seem today given their current lot in the standings, would provide excitement and relief and maybe generate collective NYC momentum after two exhausting years.
For the NBA? Not so much. A Brooklyn title is something to worry about.
The Nets have blatantly treated the regular season as a waste of time, less than an afterthought. Their star point guard, Kyrie Irving, chose not to participate in more than half the games, deciding that injecting the COVID-19 vaccine, for reasons still unknown, is a nonnegotiable “no.”
The Nets enabled his stance by backtracking on their own firm “no” about allowing part-time players, ironically using mass COVID-19 infections as an excuse to bring Irving back.
“We’re sitting here faced with a roster that has been decimated over the course of the last several days,” Sean Marks explained as omicron raged in December. “And I’m forced to make decisions.”
To nobody’s surprise, Marks forgot to tell Irving to go home once his teammates recovered.
The Nets tried to convince us James Harden was unavailable because of a ‘strength deficiency’ in his hamstring, then traded him for an enigma, Ben Simmons, who hasn’t played in nearly a year and remains sidelined indefinitely. The lack of transparency regarding injuries from the Nets, plus misdirections when speaking publicly (coach Steve Nash insisted Harden was happy and wouldn’t be traded), has only bolstered theories that Simmons might be delaying his debut to avoid an uncomfortable atmosphere March 10 in Philadelphia.
The Nets turned “ramping up” into a common and frustrating explanation for DNPs, much like Kawhi Leonard brought “load management” into our lexicon. They had three players on max contracts — Irving, Durant and Harden — who managed just 16 games together over two seasons. They trotted out 36 different starting lineups. They punted so many times you’d think they’re the Jets.
“That’s it,” Nash said last week when asked what the Nets need to do other than get healthier. “That’s No. 1, 2 and 3 and 4, really.”
In other words, the games you just watched didn’t matter. They were 48-minute placeholders. And Nash may be right. Here’s why that should scare Commissioner Adam Silver:
Revenue is based on eight months of games, including 1,230 in the regular season. Tickets are sold. Broadcast rights are purchased. The stars drive the demand, more so than any other team sport. It’s also built on the model that the games actually matter, which has been a tougher sell leaguewide, beyond Brooklyn’s disregard, because 2/3 of the teams now have a chance at the playoffs and the rest are likely tanking.
National TV partners booked the Nets for 26 games because of Durant and Irving, not because Cam Thomas might be a steal as the 27th pick. ESPN and Turner paid $24 billion for that right, which, in turn, helps Irving, Durant and Simmons earn a combined $600 million in career earnings (and counting).
Ratings dictate the price, and stars dictate the ratings. It’s a similar equation with ticket sales. Good luck, for instance, convincing a Nets season ticket holder to renew after he or she paid to see a Big 3 of Patty Mills, Bruce Brown and Cam Thomas. Not a good investment. The Nets, not coincidentally, are 13-18 at home.
If the Nets win a championship with a low seed and little regard for the regular season, others will inevitably follow. It’s a copycat league, remember. Load management became the craze after Leonard’s championship with the Raptors, and Silver is trying to squeeze in more games with a midseason tournament.
The commissioner is already dealing with some level of fan and star apathy. All-Star weekend in Cleveland, despite Silver’s new quarter-by-quarter format and Steph Curry’s historic shooting, was easy to ignore. The TV rating tied last year’s as the worst in the recorded history of the All-Star Game. The Slam Dunk contest, once the coming-out party for the league’s superstars, hit a low point with a stream of misses from nondescript participants.
There’s also the ongoing issue of availability across the NBA, the reason it’s not smart to buy a ticket too far in advance with the goal of seeing a particular star.
The Nets haven’t helped.
