Could the 2016 Brooklyn Nets be the worst NBA team ever?
Still, the vote revealed a sentiment throughout the league that tanking is a real issue — with teams like the Philadelphia 76ers putting together rosters of, at best, NBA talent, without placing any value on the win column.
This year’s Brooklyn Nets team could be on track to become the worst in NBA history — without the benefit of their first round pick, which was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2013 without restrictions.
While the Sixers are 0-11 thus far — becoming the first team in NBA history to start with 10 straight losses in back-to-back seasons — they’ve played only one team currently under .500 (Orlando, at 5-6).
There are no major trade assets on this year’s roster aside from Lopez, who’s even strapped with major injury concerns.
Almost all of their draft picks through the rest of the decade have been traded, dating back to general manager Billy King’s attempt at assembling a Big Three in 2012 in acquiring Johnson — and his ludicrously expensive contract — from Atlanta.
Perhaps what makes the Nets so depressing, compared to a team like the Sixers, is that there seems to have been legitimate effort to contend — yet this is the product they ended up with.