Basketball is back.
Well, almost.
We are about two weeks away from the regular season tipping off on Oct. 20.
The Knicks opened their preseason in Philadelphia on Monday, and the Nets follow suit tonight, as their opener gets underway in Charlotte.
These two teams will meet on Oct. 21 in the official season opener.
Before that, coach Jordi Fernandez will have plenty of chances to rotate through Brooklyn’s youth movement and evaluate the NBA’s youngest roster.
More importantly, instead of practicing and scrimmaging against teammates and peers all summer, now is the chance to get a taste of full-speed competition under the whistle.
Unfortunately, health matters too and Charlotte has already declared numerous players out for this contest.
Nets vs. Hornets prediction, best bet
Hornets coach Charles Lee and the rest of the league are likely to approach this week with caution, and bettors should do the same.
For starters, they’re coming off an offseason in which they reshuffled their roster, moving on from two cornerstone players, LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, and shifting their focus to Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel.
Miller is recovering from a recent shoulder surgery and is expected to play some minutes alongside newly acquired Naz Reid.
Knueppel is dealing with a left hamstring injury and is uncertain to play in their regular-season opener later this month. He’ll join Coby White and Grant Williams on the sidelines.
Betting on the NBA?
Julius Randle is set to make his Nets debut, alongside Michael Porter Jr. and a slew of other returning players who made lasting impressions last season.
Josh Minott and Dayron Sharpe each earned contract extensions over the summer and Fernandez will also trot out other prospects Nolan Traore, Danny Wolf, and Drake Powell.
For Nets faithful looking forward to seeing the Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr. backcourt will have to wait, as Brown Jr. and fellow 2026 draftee Joshua Jefferson have both been ruled out.
From a roster perspective, the Nets have enough tools to keep this close, and I think their new culture shines brightly enough to cover 3.5 points.
After spending much of last season and summer league playing together, Brooklyn’s younger players have had plenty of time to build chemistry, unlike Charlotte, which has plenty of new faces.
The Play: Nets +3.5 (+100, DraftKings)
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Mike Turay is a sports journalist and editor who closely follows the NBA, NFL, college sports and UFC. He has demonstrated expertise in both NBA and NFL player prop bets for nearly three years. Mike is also highly knowledgeable about the sportsbook offer landscape, frequently trying and reviewing the latest apps and sites.
