Pillar 7
60 Seasons: History & Identity
This franchise did not start in 2012. The full history, New Jersey years included, because that is the honest history. This season is the 60th in franchise history.
1967
The franchise is founded as the New Jersey Americans of the ABA, playing in Teaneck. Season one of sixty.
1968 to 1976
The team becomes the New York Nets, and behind Julius Erving, Dr. J himself, wins two ABA championships, in 1974 and 1976. The red, white and blue ball, the style, the swagger: this era is the franchise’s first identity.
1976 to 1977
The ABA merges into the NBA, the Nets are sold a move into the new league, Erving is sold to Philadelphia in the merger’s hardest deal, and the team lands back in New Jersey as the New Jersey Nets.
2002 and 2003
Jason Kidd leads the New Jersey Nets to back to back NBA Finals, the franchise’s two trips to the last round of the NBA playoffs. The Meadowlands years peak here.
2012
The move to Brooklyn and the opening of Barclays Center. The team becomes the Brooklyn Nets, the borough gets its first major league team of its own in generations, and a new fan base is born, the one this page is part of.
Today
A rebuild with the league’s best draft pick chest, the youngest roster in the league, and a No. 6 pick running point. Sixty seasons in, the next identity of this franchise is being decided right now, one development update at a time.
What lives here all season
This Day in Nets History runs on the dates that deserve it, with the real story, not a trivia card. Classic Edition night companions run on every Classic Edition date this season, connecting the throwback look on the floor to the teams that wore it first. Settle It polls close the arguments fans actually have: courts, jerseys, eras, and the players who belong in the rafters conversation.
The first History piece and the first Settle It poll run this week. Classic Edition dates are verified against the current season schedule before anything posts.