A thrilling draft simulator projection places the Nets at No. 3, igniting hope for a franchise-altering talent to pair with a promising young core.
The Brooklyn Nets' most recent 127-115 victory over Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets satisfied not only ex-Nuggets NBA champion Michael Porter Jr., but the team as a whole.
Coupled with the emphatic blowout win over a dominant Western Conference superpower (missing 3-time MVP Nikola Jokić), the Nets could also be looking forward to a massive offseason development prior to the 2026 NBA Draft.
Though the win over Denver could give the group a much-needed boost, the goal for the franchise should be to remain in range to land a top pick in this year's draft, and a recent visual provided by NBA reporter Frankie Cartoscelli showed Nets fans just how close they could get to welcoming a franchise-altering talent to the team heading into the 2026-27 campaign.
On Saturday morning, Cartoscelli took to X to show off a great roll that he received while playing around with Tankathon's 2026 NBA Draft Lottery Simulator, one that showed the Nets landing with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft in this hypothetical.
While this might not be the official results of the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery, the visual that this exercise provides is one that could give Nets fans plenty of hope after the conclusion of what should be another underwhelming season, especially if some of their high-end pieces are shipped away prior to the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
Though Brooklyn's hopeful first-time All-Star and electric scoring forward Michael Porter Jr. is sure to be shopped around the NBA this trade season, his departure could then indirectly provide the franchise with even more of an opportunity to land a top pick in what looks to be a stacked draft class.
These developments are especially exciting considering the fact that the Nets' youngsters Egor Dëmin, Nolan Traoré and Drake Powell, along with Noah Clowney and Day'Ron Sharpe, seem to be hitting a new stride.
Over the past 10 games, the Nets have shot up into the top-10 in net rating with a 2.7 mark, due in large part to their No. 3 ranked 109.6 defensive rating for that span. Adding yet another rangy, athletic prospect like Kansas' Darryn Peterson, BYU's A.J. Dybantsa or Duke's Cameron Boozer could further increase Brooklyn's potential on both sides of the ball.
Moving forward, examples of potential lottery success like this will provide Nets fans and the organization, alike, with hope that a genuinely game-changing talent is on the way.