The Nets plan to turn their tank into something else and how long itll take

When the Nets finally committed to tank, it was planned to be a shorter process rather than long. That was 2024, and everybody knows the saying about the best-laid plans. Multiple league sources told The Post that the idea remains the same: The Nets intend to flip the switch and try to compete as soon as next season. Just how aggressive their rebuild is, and exactly what it looks like, is going to be determined by four or five touch points over the next 18 months. How the Nets rookies develop, what kind of lottery luck they get, what happens in the upcoming playoffs, if a star becomes available and free agency will all play roles in shaping how Brooklyn’s rebuild goes. “Yes, it’s all of the above,” a source told The Post.“There’s going to be like five touch points where you go OK, where’s the team.” This draft is loaded, and the Nets will be in the lottery; the 2027 free agent class could be stacked, and they’ll have flexibility.

Whether they become aggressive this summer, next summer or the trade deadline in-between remains unclear. What’s crystal clear is they expect to compete sooner rather than later. Think months, not years. Now, there is a huge gap between the Nets and, say, the reigning champion Thunder, whom they host Wednesday.The play-in is a viable holistic goal next year, but circumstances will determine when they ante up for a star. Like the lyric says, there’s levels to this.

And Brooklyn is just trying to climb up from the bottom one next season, rather than wallow in the basement for the better part of a decade, piling up lottery pick after lottery pick. Charlotte was in the lottery for nine consecutive years before breaking through.The Pistons are atop the East, but tanked for five straight years — averaging just 18.8 wins from 2019-24 — to accumulate elite talent like Cade Cunningham. The Nets don’t plan to tank anywhere near that long.

But like we said, mice and men… With Brooklyn not having control of...