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This year, the Nets won’t be trying to lose on purpose.
But they started the season by doing it anyway.
Brooklyn dropped its opener 110-103 to the visiting Hornets before a sellout crowd of 17,548 at Barclays Center on Wednesday night.
It was the Nets’ sixth straight season-opening defeat. And it was a deflating one for a team that was trying to put three tough seasons behind it and turn the page.
The Nets had gone through a disappointing 2023-24 followed by two overt tanking seasons, and desperately wanted to come out of the gate well and build some momentum.
Losing to a shorthanded, eminently beatable Charlotte team with a grueling six-game gantlet looming risks building all the wrong kinds of momentum.
Rookie Mikel Brown Jr. made his debut, but as expected, veterans Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. led the way.
Randle, acquired to be a floor-raiser, poured in a game-high 33 points, added eight rebounds and doled out a team-high seven assists — joining James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry and Orlando Woolridge as the only Nets to notch 20-5-5 in their debuts.
Porter shook off a slow start to finish with 24 points, seven boards and three steals, the latter impressive for a player not known for his defense.
But it wasn’t enough to overcome their sloppiness or lack of physicality.
Brooklyn was outscored 20-8 on second-chance points.
Their poor ball movement left them little chance to overcome their poor showing on the glass.
The Nets handed out just 22 assists against 22 turnovers, a sure recipe for failure.
And this was definitely failure. Against a Hornets team missing Kon Knueppel and Coby White. And with six straight upcoming against teams projected for 44.5 wins by Las Vegas bookmakers.
With the Hornets depleted, the Nets could concentrate on stopping Brandon Miller — but they couldn’t even slow him early.
Miller ripped off 12 points right out of the gate, to leave the Nets in a 21-15 hole with 2:37 left in the first quarter.
Brooklyn spent much of the rest of the night chasing.
Porter was held to just six points in a muted first half. He drilled two quick 3-pointers coming out of the break to pull Brooklyn within 62-58.
His four-point play gave the Nets a 64-62 lead with 8:12 left in the third, and he even notched steals on back-to-back possessions. But none of that was enough.
Brown checked in for the Nets with 3:57 left in the first quarter, and his first NBA points came on a strong drive into Charlotte center Moussa Diabate for an and-one 1:40 later.
He looked fairly composed and comfortable on the ball in his first official NBA game, and with only a single preseason cameo appearance under his belt.
But perhaps just as relevant was the fact that the Nets simply looked better with him on the ball.
After Egor Dëmin had spent his at-times overwhelmed rookie season getting turned at the point of attack and altogether incapable of touching the paint, the Russian was at least actively getting downhill on Wednesday. He was just largely ineffective when he did so, with three turnovers and just two assists.
Demin shot 2-for-10 overall and 0-for-5 from 3-point range, his only baskets coming on goaltends.