The Brooklyn Nets have had a miserable start to the season, but they have another opportunity to get into the win column.

Over the first 10 games of the season, almost nothing has gone right for Brooklyn. From blowout losses to clutch-time disasters, the Nets have fallen apart in almost every game at some point.

Holding only one win, which came against the injury-riddled Indiana Pacers, the Nets are firmly in the bottom tier of the NBA. Of course, that was always the case coming into the season.

Brooklyn was a team projected to be in the mix for the No. 1 pick and has had no issues staying in that discussion.

Despite the Nets wanting to tank and get a high pick in 2026, they still need to understand that losing of this caliber is sure to take a toll on anyone. So, with a home matchup against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, the Nets need to at least stay competitive.

The Raptors have had an up-and-down start to the season, with some impressive wins and a lifeless losing skid in the middle. While Brooklyn won’t be anywhere near the postseason picture when the season comes to an end, games like this could still give the Nets a chance to have a significant impact as a spoiler.

Ideally, most NBA teams would like to avoid having to play the role of spoiler for several months, but for tanking teams, that’s the role that needs to be embraced from day one. The Nets don’t necessarily have anything to play for in terms of postseason aspirations, but almost every team they face does.

If Brooklyn can channel the right energy in Tuesday’s matchup, it might be able to unlock a new attitude moving forward. While the idea was always for Brooklyn to tank, there was at least some hope that the team would be competing for a play-in spot for a couple of months.

Instead, a 1-9 start ended all of those hopes rather quickly. While that has made for a clearly disappointing start to this campaign, the Nets can shift their focus to being a team that teams don’t want to play.

Under Jordi Fernandez, the Nets have adopted an attitude of hard work and hustle, which can make them dangerous for any team that thinks it will have an easy win. And there might not be any better place for the Nets to prove that other than Tuesday’s matchup against the Raptors.