New Jersey’s new governor said she wants to bring the Nets back to the Garden State.
But don’t hold your breath. It’s not happening anytime soon.
In a live chat in Newark marking her 100 Days In Office, Governor Mikie Sherrill said there was work being done to bring the team back from Brooklyn. But a league source that spoke with the Post said there were no plans for the Nets to leave Barclays Center.
“They’re perfectly happy in Brooklyn,” the highly-placed league source told the Post.
The Nets spent 35 seasons playing in New Jersey: four at Rutgers, 29 more at the Meadowlands and a final two at Prudential Center in Newark, colloquially known as The Rock.
They’ve been in Barclays Center since 2012, which — like the team, and their G League affiliate — is owned by e-commerce billionaire Joe Tsai.
Speaking at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on April 29 — in a conversation sponsored by RWJBarnabas Health and moderated by NJ.com politics reporter Brent Johnson — Sherrill was asked if she would support prying the Nets out of Brooklyn and bringing them back across the Hudson River.
“I mean, would I support it? I ask about it all the time,” Sherrill said. “I love the idea. So, I have been pressing for that. I haven’t made a lot of headway yet; you know, maybe in my second 100 days.
“But I do think there is some work being done for some — I don’t know if I’m allowed to say too much about it — but some people are working on some different sports coming into the Rock.”
Whatever different sports those are, they don’t currently include the Nets — either the Brooklyn version or Long Island. Any move would have to go through the NBA office, and there have been no talks of such.
“There have been no conversations with (Nets) ownership or leadership and the governor or her administration,” the highly-placed league confirmed to the Post. “[They] have no plans to bring the Brooklyn Nets back to New Jersey.”
Though Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment — Tsai’s holding company that actually runs the Brooklyn Nets, Long Island Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center — is believed to still own the trademark for the New Jersey Nets name, the team isn’t leaving Barclays Center, with owning a team together with their host arena the cleanest avenue for profitability in the NBA.
The Nets averaged 17,412 fans this season, or 99.22 percent capacity, even during a tanking campaign that saw them go just 20-62.
G League affiliate Long Island has been playing at Nassau Coliseum, but is also not expected to be heading to New Jersey.
