Regular season play for the Brooklyn Nets begins on the road against the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 22.
The rotation is starting to figure itself out after an informative preseason. Four of the five starting spots should be held down by Cam Thomas, Terance Mann, Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton, but the player running the show is still unclear.
Rookies Ben Saraf and Nolan Traoré each received two starts during the preseason –– Saraf looked more comfortable in the small sample size. However, Egor Demin looked polished in his lone appearance against the Toronto Raptors off the bench.
Head coach Jordi Fernandez wants to run a 10-man rotation this season. We can assume that at least two of the three rookie guards will be in the rotation, with one starting and one coming off the bench. Ziaire Williams, Noah Clowney and Day’Ron Sharpe should be the other rotation locks off the bench.
With some of the roster kinks out of the way, let’s get into the five-game October slate.
Starting with the opener at Charlotte, this may be the best opportunity for Brooklyn to get an early win. If LaMelo Ball and/or Brandon Miller don’t play due to injury, that makes the odds even better.
The Hornets are also relying on their rookies and youth in general to take a jump this season. While Charlotte has the advantage in the backcourt, especially if Ball doesn’t play, the Nets experience in the frontcourt should cause some fits.
Next is Brooklyn’s home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even with Darius Garland out to start the season, the Cavaliers have more proven star power. They were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last season because of their overwhleming defense and consistent offense.
It would take the Nets’ best game to win against Cleveland, even though the game is at Barclays Center.
Brooklyn will see its first back-to-back of the season on a Texas road trip. The first game will be against the San Antonio Spurs and then the Houston Rockets. Not only are both of those teams poised to take leaps this season, but the Nets’ youth may have trouble adjusting to consecutive matchups on the road.
The October schedule will finish against the Atlanta Hawks at the beginning of a three-game home stand. This will be another tough game to win because of how balanced the Hawks are. They added Kristaps Porzingis in the offseason as well, forming a tenacious big man trio with Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu.
There is a real chance Brooklyn enters this game winless and could have a chip on its shoulder at home. While a 0-5 record wouldn’t be the craziest outcome, the Nets have enough veteran talent to steal a win somewhere in October, likely at Charlotte or against Atlanta.