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.
Brooklyn Nets
However, the rivalry between the Nets and the Celtics appeared significantly cooled off by the June 2013 blockbuster trade that dealt Celtics stars Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets in exchange for Wallace, Humphries, and others. This move was billed as a merger of the two Atlantic Division teams. Celtics announcer Sean Grande said, "It's almost as if you found a great home for these guys. You couldn't have found a better place. These guys will be in the New York market, they'll be on a competitive team, they'll stay on national TV. It's funny, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So with Celtics fans feeling the way they do about the Heat, feeling the way they do about the Knicks, the Nets are going to become almost the second [Boston] team now."