Prudential Center
The arena was originally intended to be the home of the New Jersey Nets, but YankeeNets sold the team to Bruce Ratner, who decided he would relocate the Nets to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. However, the construction of the arena was plagued by lawsuits and economic issues during the recession. In the fall of 2009, the Nets played two preseason games at the Prudential Center, while considering a possible move there. After the success of the preseason games at the Prudential Center, the Nets finalized a deal to move to the Prudential Center. The team played for two seasons at the venue before the Barclays Center was completed in 2012 and the team officially relocated to Brooklyn. The final NBA event at the Prudential Center before the Nets' move to Brooklyn was the 2012 NBA Draft, held on June 28, 2012.
History of the Brooklyn Nets
On June 10, 2010, Avery Johnson was named the new head coach. Sam Mitchell was named assistant coach shortly thereafter. With owners Mikhail Prokhorov and Jay-Z, general manager Rod Thorn, and Johnson, who at that point had the best winning percentage of any coach in NBA history, on board, the Nets headed into the free agency period with millions in salary cap space and optimistic that they would be able to attract top free agents. They courted LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh to sign with the team and had cap space to sign at least one of them; however, all three signed with the Miami Heat. The Nets' biggest off-season acquisition turned out to be Travis Outlaw, who had a poor year for the team and was waived with the amnesty clause after the season.