The New Jersey Americans was founded in 1967, by trucking magnate Arthur J. Brown. Brown was running an AAU team (Amateur Athletic Union) called the ABC Freighters when the ABA launched.

The Nets have always been in the same geographic area their entire history, yet they have almost become the nomads of the NBA. Since 1967 the Nets have moved 8 times in and around the New York metropolitan area.

They began as the New Jersey Americans in Teaneck, New Jersey. The following season they moved to Commack, New York. In the third season they moved to West Hempstead, New York. New York. They have also relocated to Uniondale, NY and Piscataway, East Rutherford and Newark, New Jersey before settling in to Brooklyn

Erving is one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport. The thread that connects Erving with the Nets and Sixers had a hand in altering the course of the history of the NBA. He is often considered to have been the main catalyst for the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.

Known to many by his nicknames "Dr. J" and "The Doctor," he was known for jaw-dropping dunks. The phrase - To "posterize" a defender remains a basketball slang believed to have originated with Erving's penchant for dunking over opposing players in spectacular fashion.Bill Erving was an All-Star in all his 16 professional seasons.

The Nets who had trouble bankrolling their MVP, were locked in a contract dispute with Erving on the eve of the 1976-77 season and when the impasse could not be resolved, New York sold Erving for $3.2 million dollars to the 76ers. (For point of reference, $3 million in 1976 is roughly equivalent to $14 million in 2021.) Philadelphia became instant championship contenders, reaching The Finals in four of the next seven seasons while helping the NBA emerge from its 1970s doldrums.

Bill Julius "Dr. J" Erving Achievements

Bird never played for the Brooklyn Nets Franchise. Larry Bird was an elite scorer for the Boston Celtics. Bird and Erving who was at the time playing for The Philadelphia 76ers had an epic showdown on Nov. 9, 1984, the teams score was - the Sixers at 5-0 and the Celtics at 4-0, with 1:38 left in the third quarter, Bird had made 17 of 23 shots while scoring 42 points in 30 minutes. Erving was a woeful 3-for-13 - including two airballs - for just six points and the Sixers were getting hammered by 21. With ten players and one ref; Bird had just drawn an offensive foul,

"As he cut from the left wing toward the middle of the floor, Bird threw an elbow at Erving, which grazed the Doctor's right temple." the Inquirer's George Shirk. Erving and Bird then began exchanging words - "Bird grabbed Erving and appeared to throw a punch." Daily News' Phil Jasner. Moses Malone and Charles Barkley grabbed Bird, trying to be peacemakers, but Erving, with Bird helpless while in the clutches of the two strongmen, landed three or four punches, with one hitting Bird squarely in the beak. It was not pretty. Both players were ejected, marking Erving's first and only ejection as a pro. In his autobiography, Bird explained that he never trash-talked Erving even though many people thought otherwise.

Jason Kidd entered the NBA in 1994, he was one of the most gifted and respected point guards in the game. By the time he retired in 2013, Kidd was much more than just a clever passer, his signature became the triple-double (double figures in any three statistical categories, most often points, rebounds, and assists).

Jason Kidd’s true value, however, became most apparent in 2001, when the Suns dealt him to the New Jersey Nets after 5 seasons. Kidd helped engineer one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the league’s history, taking the long-moribund Brooklyn Nets to consecutive NBA finals in his first two seasons with the team (losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs in 2002 and 2003, respectively). KIdd played for the Nets from 2001 - 2008

On February 19, 2008, Kidd was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, the team that originally drafted him.

Kidd was named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets June 12, 2013, he is the third person since the ABA-NBA merger to debut as an NBA head coach the season after he retired as a player. In September 2013, Kidd bought a minority ownership stake in the team (from Jay-Z).

On October 17, 2013, the Nets retired and raised his number 5 jersey to the rafters before a preseason game against the Miami Heat. Kidd is the fourth coach overall to win both Player of the Month and Coach of the Month honors and he’s the second coach to win both honors with the same team.

Jason Kidd Career Highlights

Charles Linwood "Buck" Williams was selected as the third overall NBA draft in 1981 by The New Jersey Nets. Williams established himself as a premier player at the power forward position over the next eight seasons with the Nets.

The Nets made their second NBA playoff appearance in 1982 after reaching the postseason just once in their first five years in the league, a credit to Williams’ arrival. It was the first of five straight playoff appearances, and in 1984 they knocked out the defending champion Philadelphia 76ers.

Over his first six seasons as a Net, Buck Williams missed ONE game, Williams averaged 16.4 points and 11.9 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field in 36.4 minutes per game. Buck was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Sam Bowie and a draft pick on June 24, 1989 by the Nets.

Buck Williams had his No. 52 retired by the Nets in April 1999, his jersey was raised to the rafters at the Continental Airlines Arena marking an end to his 17-year NBA career..

Charles Linwood "Buck" Williams Career Highlights

The summer of 1976 saw the ABA-NBA merger finally take place. As part of the merger agreement, four teams from the ABA—the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and San Antonio Spurs—joined the NBA. The Nets and Nuggets had actually applied to join the NBA in 1975, but were forced to play a lame-duck season in the ABA by court order.

The NBA forced the Nets to pay an additional $4.8 million directly to the Knicks for "invading" the New York area.

The Brooklyn Nets were considered a rival team to the New York Knicks.

Coming on the heels of the $3.2 million that the team had to pay for joining the NBA, this left Roy Boe (who bought the team from Arthur Brown) short of cash, and he was forced to renege on a promised pay raise for Erving. Erving refused to play for the Nets under these conditions, leaving Boe no choice but to sell Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million—roughly the same amount they had to pay for NBA membership.

Value at the start of the 2021-22 season

On April 23, 2012, the Nets played their last game in New Jersey, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, at Prudential Center. They played their last game as the New Jersey Nets in Toronto on April 26, 2012, and lost in a blowout to the Toronto Raptors.

The team officially became the Brooklyn Nets on April 30, 2012. The move saw the Nets trading for six-time All-Star Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks, in return, the Nets sent Jordan Farmar, Johan Petro, Anthony Morrow, Jordan Williams, DeShawn Stevenson and a draft pick previously acquired from the Houston Rockets to Atlanta. On the same date, Deron Williams signed a five-year, $98.7 million deal to remain with the Nets. In addition, the Nets re-signed Brook Lopez and Gerald Wallace to four-year deals.

The Brooklyn Nets played their first game on November 3, 2012, They started the season strong, as a result, Avery Johnson won Coach of the Month for the Eastern Conference. However, in a turn of events a rough stretch in December saw Johnson being fired as head coach, assistant coach P. J. Carlesimo was named interim head coach until a replacement could be hired. This proved to be the change the Nets needed; going 11-4 in January, and heading into the All-Star break with a record of 31-22. Center Brook Lopez was selected to his first All-Star Game as the Nets' lone representation at the game. On April 3, 2013, Brooklyn ended an eight-game road trip by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, the first winning season on the road in the franchise's NBA history.

The 2013-14 season started poorly for the Nets, with rookie coach Jason Kidd facing difficulties adjusting to his new job, and with injuries affecting the team's ability to field a consistent lineup. The team struggled to a disappointing 10-21 through December. On March 23, 2014, the Nets completed a season sweep of the Dallas Mavericks for the first time since the 1999-2000 season with a 107-104 overtime win in Dallas.

On May 4, 2014, the Nets defeated the Toronto Raptors in the First Round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs with a 104-103 victory in Game 7. It also marked the first Game 7 win in Nets' franchise history. Unfortunately, the Nets' season ended following a 94-96 loss in Game 5 of the Conference Semifinals against the Heat,

Milwaukee Bucks secured Kidd's coaching rights from the Nets on July 1, 2014 and on July 2, 2014, Lionel Hollins reached an agreement in principle for him to serve as the Brooklyn Nets head coach for the next four seasons. On July 7, 2014, he was officially introduced by the Nets at a press conference.

The Nets barely squeezed into the playoffs in Hollins' first season, nosing out the Pacers for the last playoff spot on the last day of the season. They did not get their first win until the eighth game of the season. By the start of 2016, they were 9-23. On January 10, 2016, the Nets announced that they had parted ways with head coach Lionel Hollins and general manager Billy King. Tony Brown became interim head coach, while former Spurs assistant general manager Sean Marks became general manager. Marks made clear that his vision included a rebuilding process that would take years to execute.

In April 2016, the Nets hired former Knicks and Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson as the new head coach. During Nets free agency in the summer of 2016, the team started and have nearly completed their rebuilding process by acquiring through sign or trade deals the following; Randy Foye, Anthony Bennett, Trevor Booker, Luis Scola, and Jeremy Lin.

The Nets finished the 2017-18 NBA season with a 28-54 record, missing the playoffs for the 3rd consecutive season.

In an interview with CNBC live from Barclays Center Tsai spoke about how he’s been surprised by how owning a team is not just about the sport or the business, but as a “social institution.”

“One thing I realize when you own a sports team is that it’s larger than a sports team,” Tsai told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “It’s a social institution. You’re doing it for the fans, for the broader population. I’m glad we’re situated in Brooklyn because we have the best fans in the world.

“And having this building, Barclays Center, kind of fortuitously we have this square or plaza in front of us with some empty space. So, this became a place where people could gather, focus on whatever social cause they want to focus on.

As one of four majority owners of color in the NBA, Tsai and Wu Tsai have been active with the NBA and WNBA players' push for the awareness and advancement of social justice, race and gender issues.

Petrovic led the first wave of European stars to the NBA, a path supercharged by those 1992 Olympics and the Dream Team. Drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1986, Petrovic made the jump to the NBA in 1990. After a season-and-a-half with the Blazers, Petrovic was acquired by the Nets on Jan. 23, 1991 after playing sparingly for Portland over the first half of the season.

In New Jersey, Petrovic seized opportunity with a breakout season in 1991-92, giving the NBA a taste of what had made him a legend in Europe. He averaged 20.6 points while shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range, second in the league. The Nets, 26-56 the season before, won 40 games and returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 1985-86 season.

In 1992-93, Petrovic and the Nets took another step forward as Chuck Daly, coach of the Dream Team and a two-time NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons, took over as head coach.

As the 1992-93 season moved along, Petrovic was in rhythm. In early December, he earned his first Player of the Week honor after scoring 34 points against San Antonio and 29 against Miami, shooting 8-for-11 from 3-point range in the two games. On Jan. 24, Petrovic put up his NBA career-high 44 points against Houston, shooting 17-for-23 overall while making all three of his 3-point attempts. That was the start of an eight-game stretch in which Petrovic would average 26.9 points.

In the Nets’ overtime win, Petrovic played all 53 minutes while scoring 35 points with five assists and five steals. He shot 12-for-18 overall and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Petrovic averaged 22.3 points while shooting 51.8 percent overall and 44.9 percent from 3-point range, this time third in the league, Petrovic was named to the All-NBA Third Team.

Petrovic’s career 3-point percentage of 43.7 is fifth in NBA history and first in Nets franchise history. His 44.9 3-point percentage in 1992-93 was a Nets single-season record until it was surpassed by Joe Harris in 2018-19, but with his 44.4 mark of 1991-92 he holds two of the top four single-season 3-point shooting percentages in Nets history.

On his return home from the qualifying tournament, Petrovic was killed in a car accident on June 7, 1993, leaving a legacy that resonates to this day.

Petrovic’s No. 3 jersey was retired by the Nets in 1993, and he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

In the 2000-01 season, Mourning was diagnosed with focal glomerulosclerosis, a kidney disorder. Zo Mourning played two seasons with the New Jersey Nets. Zo signed a four-year deal with the Nets as a free agent on July 16, 2003 and was traded to the Toronto Raptors on December 17, 2004. He played 12 games for the Nets in 2003-04, but was placed on the injured list on November 25 after being forced to stop playing basketball due to his kidney ailment.

On December 19, 2003, he underwent a successful kidney transplant and was released from the hospital four days later. In 2004 Mourning started practicing with the Nets again, and made the team's regular season roster during the 2004-05 season. He did not play a significant role with the Nets, and openly complained to the media

that he wanted out of New Jersey, especially after the team traded away Kenyon Martin. With just 30 games total under his belt for New Jersey, Mourning was traded to the Toronto Raptors on December 17, 2004, Mourning was traded to the Toronto Raptors on December 17, 2004

The Brooklyn Nets have scored 110.9 points per game since 2016-17 + present

The Brooklyn Nets have played 6 seasons between 2017 and 2022.

The Brooklyn Nets are 29-19 this season. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division and 4th in the Eastern Conference.

They have played 3,670 games all-time. The Brooklyn Nets have played 45 Seasons of which 22 Made Playoffs

Brooklyn Nets Records Year by Year

List of the accomplishments and records for the Brooklyn Nets.

Championships

• John Abbamondi - CEO, BSE Global, Alternate Governor, Brooklyn Nets
• Joe Tsai - Governor, Brooklyn Nets
• Oliver Weisberg - Alternate Governor, Brooklyn Nets
• Sean Marks - Alternative Governor, General Manager

• Peter Stern - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
• Jeff Gewirtz - General Counsel, Executive Vice President, and Chief Compliance Officer
• Michael Wandell - Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer
• Laurie Jacoby - Executive Vice President, Chief Entertainment Officer
• Leo Ehrline - Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer
• Emerson Moore - Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer
• Mandy Gutmann - Executive Vice President, Communications and Community Relations.

• Adina Erwin - General Manager, Barclays Center
• Chris Giacalone - Vice President, Hospitality
• Emily Aponte - Vice President, Human Resources
• Andrew Karson - Senior Vice President, Brand Marketing and Solutions
• Joshua Pruss - Senior Vice President, Partnership Marketing and Premium Hospitality
• Riley J. Williams III, MD - Medical Director & Head Team Physician

Timeline of the Net’s ownership.

• 1967-68
  Trucking magnate Arthur J. Brown managed an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team called the ABC Freighters when the ABA launched. In the ABA they played under the team name New York Americans
• 1976
  The ABA merged with the NBA.
• 1969-70
  Roy Lars Magnus Boe purchases team from original owner Arthur Brown
• 1978
  Boe sold the team to a partnership famously called the “Secaucus Seven”
• 1998
  The Secaucus Seven sold the team to Raymond Chambers and Lewis Katz after unsuccessful efforts to improve the team’s dismal financial state and record.
• 2004
  After only a few years, the group decided to sell. Bruce Ratner; executive chairman of the company's New York subsidiary, Forest City Ratner Companies. Rathner beats out Charles Kushner and Jon Corzine to buy the team for $300 million. Ratner eventually moves the team back to Brooklyn and helps build Barclays Center.
• 2010
  Ratner sells majority stake in the Nets and operating rights to Barclays Center to Prokhorov (Onexim Sports and Entertainment). Prokhorov acquired the franchise for $223 million, plus the team’s debt. Five years later, Prokhorov reached a deal to buy out his minority partners for $1.9 billion. Mikhail Prokhorov’s company Onexim now become the 100% equity owner of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center
• 2017
  Joe Tsai buys 49% of the Nets in a deal that values the franchise at $2.3 billion -- without Barclays Center. He has an option to purchase the rest of the team by 2021. In September 2019, Prokhorov sold the remaining 51 percent of the Nets to Tsai, Tsai now becomes the owner of the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA and chairman of Barclays Center.

List of Presidents / CEO for the Brooklyn Nets.

Past and present General Managers of the Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets announced in September, 2020 that Steve Nash would be named the 23rd head coach in franchise history. Nash is the second Canadian head coach in NBA history, he led the team Canada to the quarter-finals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Nash holds the Senior Men’s National Team single game assist record, he also earned FIBA Americas MVP honors in 1999 and 2003.

Nash is an eight-time NBA All-Star (2002-2003, 2005-2008, 2010, 2012), the 6'3" point guard, was also a three-time All-NBA First Team member (2005-2007). Nash finished his career ranked third all-time with 10,335 assists after leading the NBA in Assists Per Game for five seasons (2005-2007, 2010, 2011).

On closing out his first season with the nets in June, 2021 Nash said “It’s not that dissimilar to being a player,” said Nash. “We’re going to look back on the year and things that we did and how we performed and the decisions we made, the approach we took and analyze it all and try to come back in a much better position. So it’s very much like being a player. We’re — as an organization — always looking to improve, always challenging, always asking questions, and that’s no different for me, my staff. I’ll definitely spend a lot of time with the film department, with the analytics department and with the front office this year, even the performance team, players, just trying to continually ask the right questions and find answers and solutions for ways that we can get better.

Vaughn was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs from 2010 to 2012. On July 28, 2012, Vaughn was named the new head coach of the Orlando Magic. On February 5, 2015, he was fired by the Magic. Vaughn then spent the 2015-16 season working as a professional scout for the Spurs. He was hired as Kenny Atkinson's top assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets prior to the 2016-17 season, and was promoted to interim head coach position in March 2020 following Atkinson's mid-season departure. On September 3, 2020, the Nets hired Steve Nash as head coach, while Vaughn returned to his position as assistant coach.

The Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets battled it out in a game that was supposed to be highlighted by the return of Kyrie Irving to the team that many fans consider he gave up on the previous season. Irving was not in the building. The Boston Celtics were sitting at 13-4. They were looking like a strong candidate to come out of the Eastern Conference. More importantly, they were led by a core of young talent that should keep the team relevant for years to come.

The relationship between these two teams and how they got here dates back to June of 2014. On draft day, the two sides struck a deal that would shape the teams that were on the court in Boston this evening.

Boston’s General Manager, Danny Ainge, understood that he had squeezed all the juice he could out of the trio that brought the Celtics a 16th championship in 2008. The Nets, wanting to make a big splash after moving to Brooklyn just two years before and feeling that they were ready to contend, mortgaged their future for the promise of competing immediately. In short, Boston sent Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry to Brooklyn in exchange for the expiring contracts of five role players and their unprotected first-round picks in 2014, 2016, and 2018 as well as the rights to a pick-swap in 2017.

The paths of both teams took drastically different turns after that day. The Nets succeeded in making the playoffs, but never made it past the second round.

New York Knicks Rivals 2021-22: Brooklyn Nets. The Nets and Knicks had some close games last season. With the Nets landing 3 high-profile stars in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, they’ve received a ton of national hype outside of New York, they’re going to be even tougher to beat.

Even with the Nets as clear favorites, now that the Knicks are an established winning team, this rivalry is going to gain even more steam. That animosity has been solid fuel for the rivalry, but now, with both of these teams playing winning basketball and playing high-stakes games, this rivalry is just going to get more intense.

2021-22 season

Eastern Conference: Milwaukee Bucks

The Nets’ biggest rival in the Eastern Conference this season is the team that eliminated them from the second round of the playoffs last season. That team, of course being the Milwaukee Bucks. After knocking off the Nets in the second round, the Bucks took down the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bucks, just like the Nets have a huge target on their backs this season as they are the reigning champions. Both rosters are star studded and it is very likely that the two will be facing off against each other in the Eastern Conference Finals this season as long as the seeding lines up to make it possible. The two teams will be opening the season against each other.

The Brooklyn Nets’ biggest rival out of the Western Conference is the Los Angeles Lakers. There is a lot of bad blood between these two teams from former endeavors and shots that have been taken at each other in the media.

The main rivalries between players to keep an eye out for are Kyrie Irving vs LeBron James and Russell Westbrook/LeBron James vs Kevin Durant. If these two teams meet up in the Finals, it would be one of the most interesting series we have seen in years from a narrative perspective.