{"id":233399,"date":"2026-05-16T01:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233399\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T01:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:19:10","slug":"brooklyn-nets-not-done-hoping-for-hometown-hero-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233399\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets not done hoping for hometown hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year was the year the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> were supposed to pick a red rose from the garden in their backyard. With Dylan Harper<\/a> tearing it up at Rutgers and Brooklyn simultaneously beginning its tank run, both parties seemed destined to align on Draft Night. Even his teammate, Ace Bailey<\/a>, seemed like a storybook prospect for Brooklyn at times with his close proximity to the area. Hell, Sean Marks<\/a> and B.J. Johnson visited the RAC more than 10 times!<\/p>\n

However, and as we learned again last weekend, the basketball gods are not enamored the Brooklyn Nets. Some might even say the gods have put a curse on them, a hex even more effective than Mr. Whammy\u2019s. The gods gave Harper to a team that\u2019s now had only two truly poor seasons in their last 30 years.<\/p>\n

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This year, the Nets have sixth overall pick. It\u2019s two slots up from where they were last spring, but feels twice as disappointing with Houston<\/a> owning swap rights to their first rounder in 2027.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also likely outside the range where it would make sense for Brooklyn to take any prospects from any nearby teams. That said, Sean Marks and Johnson are still doing their due diligence locally.<\/p>\n

This week, Brian Lewis reported that Nets and New York Knicks<\/a> met St. John\u2019s star Zuby Ejiofor. The versatile big quickly became a fan favorite in three year\u2019s with the Red Storm and might\u2019ve gained favor with NBA teams this week as well thanks to his pro-ready frame. Moreover, more than one mock draft has Brooklyn taking the Big East Player of the Year at No. 33 in the second round.<\/p>\n

At the NBA Combine, Ejiofor measured out to 6\u20197.5\u201d without shoes, 245 pounds and with a 7\u20192\u201d wingspan measured\u2026<\/p>\n

Ejiofor also spoke with Lewis specifically about the possibility of continuing to playing in New York<\/a>, either with the Nets or the Knicks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNew York, obviously it\u2019s a special place. I\u2019ve got to grow a whole lot in the city of New York. And obviously I have a lot of love over there. So, obviously it\u2019d be pretty special to be in a familiar area,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the opportunity happens, I\u2019m more than excited to be there\u2026It\u2019d be a great experience. I spent my last three years in New York. I have a lot of love there in New York City. I\u2019ve been away for a while, but I\u2019m going back to New York on the 17th to walk for graduation. But, yeah, it will be a great experience if it happens. I\u2019m going to be excited and my family is as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks, it should be noted, have the 24th and 31st picks.<\/p>\n

If Ejiofor stays in the Big Apple, Manhattan seems like the more likely borough for him. The Knicks picking at 24 this year, and pundits continue to mock him as a mid-to-late first rounder even with his noteworthy measurements.<\/p>\n

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That said, the idea of Brooklyn trading back or back into the first round can\u2019t be discounted. The Nets have made a trade during or within 48 hours of the NBA Draft each of the last two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year was the year the Brooklyn Nets were supposed to pick a red rose from the garden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[52027,91595,98,100,355,99,73036,4074,8740,34502,9422,9,24,1104,63,67528,8439,6648,28468],"class_list":["post-233399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-ace-bailey","tag-brian-lewis","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-dc","tag-duke-blue-devils","tag-dylan-harper","tag-houston","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-nyc","tag-red-storm","tag-sean-marks","tag-washington","tag-zuby-ejiofor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}