The supposedly-tanking Brooklyn Nets can’t stop winning: Jordi Fernandez’s scrappy squad knocked off the Sacramento Kings on Monday night 108-103 to climb to 7-10 on the season. For a team pegged by many to be the league’s worst, Brooklyn’s near-.500 record is a minor miracle.

The Nets‘ intentions this offseason screamed that the team was tanking for Duke freshman Cooper Flagg (or as Brooklyn fans say, “capture the Flagg”). The team traded a haul to the Houston Rockets in the summer just to re-acquire their own first-round pick originally dealt in the 2021 James Harden deal.

Flagg is off to a scintillating start with the Blue Devils: he leads the team with 17.8 points per game, 8.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.8 blocks. Per Global Scouting on X, he’s the only Division I player to lead his team in each statistical category.

Now, having the worst record doesn’t guarantee teams the first pick in the draft. During the “Process” era, the Philadelphia 76ers would own a 25% chance at the top choice in the mid-2010s.

Now, the worst team only has a 14% chance (followed by 14% for the second worst, 13.3% for third, and 10.5% for fourth).

The Detroit Pistons entered the last two years with the best odds at the top choice and have had to settle for consecutive fifth-overall selections – used on Ausar Thompson in 2023 and Ron Holland in 2024.

Head Coach Jordi Fernandez of the Brooklyn Nets talks to Cam Thomas #24 and Dennis Schroder #17 of the Brooklyn Nets during the game against the Chicago Bulls

New Nets coach Jordi Fernandez speaks with guards Cam Thomas and Dennis Schroeder ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

The Nets currently own the ninth-worst record in the league, giving them a 3.8% at the first pick. They have a 50.7% chance of ending up with the ninth pick and less than a 20% likelihood of landing in the top four.

Brooklyn looks frisky thanks to fourth-year guard Cam Thomas, who scored 34 points on 11/22 shooting with six assists in the team’s win over the Kings. Thomas is averaging 24.8 points and 3.5 assists while shooting 45.8% from the field and 38.7% from deep – all career highs.

Veteran forward Cam Johnson is also having a strong season, averaging 19.1 points while shooting a sparkling 49.5% from the floor and 42.6% from three.

Who’s been the key to the Nets bucking expectations? The answer is probably new coach Fernandez, who spent last season as Mike Brown’s main assistant coach with the Kings.

The Sacramento boss was effusive in his praise of Fernandez. “He’s just the right guy for the job,” he admitted. “They’re obviously thinking about a rebuild… So you need somebody with a plan, with energy, and then with the right focus in terms of relationships and stuff like that. Because going through that process — if that’s what they’re doing — it can be a lot of ups and downs.

“You need a guy that’s going to be steady, have good relationships with everybody, and keep the spirits up. He has them playing really, really, really hard … I can only imagine the success that he’s going to have, especially given some time, once they figure out which direction they may or may not want to go.”