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.
New Orleans Sun Belt Nets
The Nets were founded as WTT's charter franchise for Cincinnati, Ohio in 1973, by Bill DeWitt, Jr. and Brian Heekin. Within weeks of being established, and before the team ever had a name in Cincinnati, DeWitt and Heekin sold it to Cleveland radio executive Joseph Zingale who paid them the same $50,000 as the franchise fee they had paid to WTT. Zingale relocated the team to Cleveland with a plan to have it play its home matches at the Cleveland Public Hall starting with the league's inaugural 1974 season and name it the Cleveland Nets. Before the draft, Zingale spoke to Clark Graebner, a native of Cleveland, about playing for the team as well as to being its coach and general manager. Graebner insisted his wife, Carole, had to be drafted by the team as well. The Nets selected them both as a pair in the fourth round of the draft. No other WTT team objected to the Nets selecting two players with one draft choice. When Clark and Carole Graebner separated, Clark traded Carole to the Pittsburgh Triangles. The couple never divorced, and Carole Graebner died in 2008. Peaches Bartkowicz was a key women's doubles player for the 1974 Nets but quit the team during the season. Through all the drama, the Nets finished with 21 wins and 23 losses, third in the Atlantic Section and snuck into the playoffs.