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 York Knicks
The Brooklyn Nets, formerly the New Jersey Nets, are the Knicks' closest rival geographically. Both teams play in New York City, with the Knicks in Manhattan and the Nets in Brooklyn. Media outlets have noted the Knicks-Nets rivalry's similarity to those of other New York City teams, such as Major League Baseball's Subway Series rivalry between the American League's New York Yankees and the National League's New York Mets, due to both boroughs' proximity through the New York City Subway. Historically, the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn competed via the Dodgers–Giants rivalry, when the two teams were known as the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. Like the Knicks and Nets, the Giants and Dodgers played in Manhattan and Brooklyn, respectively, and were fierce divisional rivals. The rivalry between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League also have this distinction when the Islanders moved to Brooklyn in 2015. Due to the Knicks and Nets being located in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, some media outlets have dubbed this rivalry "Clash of the Boroughs". The Knicks and Nets have met in the playoffs three times, with the Knicks winning two of the three meetings. The Knicks defeated the Nets in the playoffs in 1983 and 1994, while the Nets won their most recent meeting in 2004.