Fine warning! Joe Tsai hints that the Nets will tank in the new season, hoping to secure a favorable draft pick next year.

On October 12th Beijing time, during a discussion hosted by the "All-In Podcast," team owner Joe Tsai admitted that competing for a playoff spot in the 2025-26 season might not be a realistic goal for the Nets.

“I have to say, we are in a rebuilding year,” Tsai stated. “We used up all our 2025 draft picks—this summer we had five first-round picks. For 2026, we have one first-round pick and hope to get a good spot. So, you can probably guess the strategy we’ll adopt this season. But our team is very young.”

What Tsai mentioned is not news to Nets or NBA fans. The Brooklyn Nets were the only team this summer with significant salary cap space, yet they didn’t use it to acquire ready-to-play talent aiming for immediate wins. Instead, they took on contracts other teams wanted to avoid and continued stockpiling draft picks. Currently, the roster includes five first-round rookies, and in the coming months, the Nets will prioritize player development over winning games.

Although the Nets’ strategy for this season is no secret, the NBA generally discourages executives or owners from publicly suggesting their team might be in “tanking mode.” Tsai’s comment that “everyone can guess the strategy the team will use to get a ‘quality’ draft pick” could clearly be interpreted that way.U.S. media have noted that whether the NBA will respond to this, possibly with a fine, remains to be seen.

The Nets won 32 games in the 2023-24 season and only 26 in 2024-25. Even though GM Sean Marks insists he was pleased with the team’s performance exceeding preseason expectations last year, his moves since December—including trading veterans Dennis Schröder, Finnie Smith, and Cameron Johnson—seem to indicate he doesn’t mind the Nets losing more games this season to secure a better draft position than the 8th pick in 2026.

In reducing the number of veterans on the roster, Marks has brought in many young players. At June’s draft, the Nets selected Egor Demin (8th pick), Nolan Traore (19th pick), Drake Powell (22nd pick), Ben Srauf (26th pick), and Danny Wolf (27th pick). The Nets are expected to have the youngest average age in the NBA for the 2025-26 season.