The Brooklyn Nets finished the 2025-26 season with a 20-62 record, and their reward for it was drafting Mikel Brown Jr. with the sixth overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft. They are expected to improve a bit heading into the 2026-27 campaign, especially after acquiring Julius Randle, a perennial threat to average 20/5/5, in a salary dump from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It helps as well that the Nets kept Michael Porter Jr., one of last season's breakout players, for the upcoming campaign. Porter averaged 24.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest last season, and he rose to the challenge of being a team's primary scoring option. With young players like Egor Demin, Danny Wolf, and Day'Ron Sharpe, just to name a few, poised to take leaps, perhaps winning five to 10 more games could be doable for this team.

However, Porter's belief in his own team far surpasses the expectations many have for them. In an appearance on N3on's stream, the Nets forward went as far as to declare that Brooklyn will reach the 50-win mark next season.

“If we can get that chemistry right, all of young guys right here got so much better. I don't know what the expectations are for our team, but we're gonna definitely surpass that,” Porter said. “Yeah, I do [think that we're gonna surpass the 50-win mark].”

Michael Porter Jr. thinks he and Julius Randle could lead the Nets to 50+ wins next season

(h/t @Fullcourtpass ) pic.twitter.com/ckybSy5noH

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 16, 2026

Article Continues Below

That is certainly an ambitious goal for Porter and the Nets, as they did not make too many changes to last season's roster anyway other than their trade for Randle. Fans on social media were simply shocked that Porter would make this kind of prediction.

“Confidence is key. They losing 50+ games. But confidence is important,” X user @HeatvsHaters wrote.

“Yeah 50+ wins total from 2026-2030 😭,” @thejpyoung added.

“more like 50 combined pts in a loss by 30,” @psd1k furthered.

Porter isn't supposed to say anything else anyway. It's not like him to simply admit that they're going to stink next season. Having hope is always good, especially for a rebuilding Nets team. But he may have to temper his expectations a little bit, lest he ends up being disappointed.