![\"BSE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Sam-Zussman.jpg\")
BSE Global CEO Sam Zussman talks with Nets coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez during his introductory press conference last year Corey Sipkin \/ New York Post<\/p>\nThe Nets are about to embark on a season where the lottery is the goal and draft picks are the endgame. It\u2019s a smart move, but a hard sell.<\/p>\n
At least for today.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s part of why they\u2019re playing the long game, with young rookies on the floor and young fans off it.<\/p>\n
The Nets are aiming to cultivate generational fandom.<\/p>\n
And the latest example of that came this week with the long-awaited opening of the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, right across from Barclays Center.<\/p>\n
For BSE Global \u2014 the parent company of the Nets, Liberty and Barclays Center \u2014 this building is key to building a young fan base.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d BSE Global CEO Sam Zussman told The Post. \u201cThen you\u2019re a fan. Yeah, I mean, think about what made you a fan. Sometimes it\u2019s the parents coming home, bringing a ball to someone, and all of a sudden they\u2019re a fan of that team. It\u2019s the smallest things. And this is super, super organic. It also pulls the parents in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cold, hard fact is the tanking Nets are going to lose games this season, with winning the lottery a successful result. They\u2019re not converting adult fans from the established Knicks, so they\u2019re targeting a different younger demographic.<\/p>\n
The Nets are looking to keep putting down roots in the community after moving from New Jersey, and the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center is an example. Located on Flatbush Ave. on the former site of Modell\u2019s, it\u2019ll serve kids aged 6-17 and be the hub of the larger Brooklyn youth program that includes free training at local schools and paid training at the center.<\/p>\n
BSE Global CEO Sam Zussman talks with Nets coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez during his introductory press conference last year Corey Sipkin \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
And of course, it\u2019ll introduce kids to the Nets.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour kid comes, says, \u2018I want to watch a Nets game\u2019. Good luck telling him or her anything else, right?\u201d Zussman said. \u201cSo, I think it\u2019s a way to engage the entire family. It\u2019s the most organic way to do it. Because this is what we do, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Through their partnership with the Department of Education, the Nets provided clinics to 40,000 kids last year in Brooklyn. The new center will be an 18,600-square-foot chunk of outreach, with Nets owner Joe Tsai, wife Clara, minority owner David Koch Jr. and others on hand for Thursday\u2019s ribbon cutting.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the greatest barriers to success is access,\u201d Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Kim Council said at the ribbon cutting. \u201cOur children need to see and they need to be able to visualize themselves in certain spaces. So I\u2019m incredibly thankful to Joe and Clara Tsai for their investment, not just in this facility but in Brooklyn and the larger community.\u201d<\/p>\n
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BSE Global has further development plans for the area. Even if the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center moves to a bigger location, say, three years from now, the plan is it\u2019ll grow the way the Nets hope the young fan base grows.<\/p>\n
In a way, they hope the rebuilding team mirrors that.<\/p>\n
The Nets made an NBA-record five first-round picks in June. While it was tough for fans to truly buy into last season\u2019s 26-56 roster filled with players who were mere placeholders, this season they can invest in a group of young rookies who will grow up before their eyes over the next few years in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started this dream years ago. We had Kyrie (Irving) and Kevin Durant,\u201d Zussman told the Post. \u201cWhat I\u2019d say is, you\u2019re right in the fact that the team now is probably more relatable to someone young, right? Because they see \u2018Oh my God, they have 18-, 19-year-old players and they\u2019ll grow up here.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
After the Nets had contact five-on-five on the first two days of camp, Friday was a non-contact recovery day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nets are about to embark on a season where the lottery is the goal and draft picks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[671,355,99],"class_list":["post-184076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}