\u201cI felt sick, like you wanted to throw up,\u201d said Jason Kirell, 47, a lifelong fan of the Nets, the Brooklyn-based, cross-borough rivals of the Knicks, a team that he said he deeply \u201chated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Knicks winning was depressing for Nets fans, but also, in a lot of ways, I think lit a fire under the fan base in a way that hasn\u2019t been lit in a long time,\u201d said Mr. Kirell, a veteran who grew up on Long Island.<\/p>\n
Long a vagabond<\/a> franchise, the Nets relocated to Brooklyn from New Jersey in 2012, and ever since have had to contend with the Knicks\u2019 80-year head start in establishing a multigenerational cultural footprint in New York City.<\/p>\n Their move included a brand-new stadium meant to rival Madison Square Garden and to mark the return of a major professional sports team to Brooklyn after the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in the 1950s. The Nets\u2019 black-and-white rebranding, with Jay-Z\u2019s backing, sought to create a cooler brand, as well as a local and potentially global fan base. And the team\u2019s star-studded run in 2021, which painfully missed the Eastern Conference finals, seemed destined to loosen the Knicks\u2019 hold over New York City, however slightly.<\/p>\n Throughout it all, Nets fans \u2014 a group of New Jersey loyalists, suburbanites and a new, younger contingent of Brooklyn locals \u2014 have been easily outnumbered by Knicks supporters. And, the Nets fandom says, they have been belittled as transplants and newcomers and their very existence even questioned<\/a>.<\/p>\n So when the Knicks finally broke their 53-year championship drought last week, and many hailed the Knicks as the one true New York City team, the experience was a lonely one for Nets fans.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hard mix of emotions because you\u2019re happy for your friends, but you\u2019re also disappointed in all the hate that the Nets are getting,\u201d said Joe Danko, 40, who lives in White Plains, N.Y., and rooted for the Spurs to win the championship. \u201cI think we\u2019re all kind of taking it personally because we pour our hearts out for this team, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Kirell, the veteran, felt the need to post a series of videos<\/a> on Instagram listing all the reasons Nets fans should be optimistic about the team\u2019s future and reminding the world \u2014 but specifically New Yorkers, Knicks fans and the media \u2014 that Nets fans do exist<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can go years of your life without running into another Nets fan in the wild,\u201d Mr. Kirell, who now lives in Philadelphia, said in an interview, adding that Nets fans from across the world, including Australia, had reached out to commiserate after seeing his videos.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s another thing to suffer by yourself and to watch another team\u2019s fans reach the mountaintop and you\u2019re not even halfway up the mountain,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re at the bottom of the mountain, and you are looking all the way up and it just makes you angry.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nets, whose record this season was 20-62, are actively rebuilding, hoping to assemble a championship-potential team through signings and the N.B.A. draft, but have been unlucky in recent lotteries in securing high draft picks. In this year\u2019s draft, to be held Tuesday, the Nets have the No. 6 pick.<\/p>\n Fans still reminisce over their glory days in the 1970s, when the Nets played on Long Island and were successful in the American Basketball Association, where they won titles and fans, largely thanks to their superstar forward, Julius Erving, known as \u201cDr. J.\u201d<\/p>\n And they still remember the 2020-21 season, when the Nets graced the covers of The Daily News<\/a> and The New Yorker<\/a> as the team barreled toward the playoffs with their three offensive stars: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. They finished the regular season 48-24 and defeated the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n But the team\u2019s championship hopes were derailed by injuries and a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, which included a painful \u201cwhat-if\u201d moment in Nets fandom: a game-tying jumper by Durant that would have been a game-winning shot had his toe not been on the 3-point line.<\/p>\n In the days since the Knicks won, hundreds of Nets fans have flocked to a Reddit message board \u2014 r\/GoNets<\/a> \u2014 to find solace, hate on the Knicks with expletives, double down on their fandom and trade encouraging messages.<\/p>\n The vibes \u2014 a mix of downtrodden misery and forward-looking optimism \u2014 are grim.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a native new yorker Nets fan right now is the worst fan experience in the history of organized sports,\u201d one user<\/a> wrote.<\/p>\n
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