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The Long Island Nets will be bringing a full schedule of pro basketball to the Nassau Coliseum for the first time in 40 years on Saturday, November 4, when they tip off at home against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
The New York Nets played their only season in the NBA at Nassau in 1976-77, then moved to New Jersey for 35 years. The Nets won two ABA championships in 1974 and 1976 before the ABA and NBA merged.
The now-Brooklyn Nets will play a preseason game vs. the 76ers in Uniondale on October 11.
All 24 of the team’s home games this season will be played at what is now officially “NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.” Barclays Center was their temporary home last season. Nassau recently reopened after an extensive renovation.
Long Island’s schedule also includes 24 road matchups, as well as two games that the team will play as a part of the annual NBA G League Showcase in January outside Toronto. All of Long Island’s games will be broadcast live on YouTube.
Like the parent club and Barclays Center, the Long Island Nets and Nassau Coliseum are owned by Mikhail Prokhorov’s Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment.
The team’s home schedule features a season-long four-game homestand, beginning Saturday, December 23, versus the Canton Charge and concluding Tuesday, January 2, against the Austin Spurs. The LI Nets will enjoy a season-high seven home contests in the month of December.
The LI Nets’ schedule also includes a season-high five-game road trip, beginning Thursday, November 16, at Northern Arizona and concluding Saturday, November 25, at Canton. The LI Nets are slated for five back-to-back sets throughout the season.
It will take a while for the Long Island roster to fill out. Brooklyn has signed two players to two-way deals, which are primarily G-League contracts. Jacob Wiley and Yakuba Ouatarra will play mostly for Long Island, but will occupy the 16th and 17th roster spots.
The Nets hold the rights to several returning veterans, not all of whom will play this season. Among those expected to return are Prince Ibeh, the 6’11” center from Texas, and Akil Mitchell, the 6’8” University of Virginia product. The G-League Draft will be held October 21.
Season ticket memberships, flex plans, and group tickets to games are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 844.LINETS.1 or by contacting tickets@longislandnets.com.
Individual tickets for games at NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum go on-sale on Sunday, October 1, at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at longislandnets.com, Ticketmaster.com, nycblive.com, or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased atthe Ticketmaster Box Office located at the Coliseum beginning on Monday, October 2, at 12 p.m.
In other Long Island Nets news, Beau Beech, who played for Brooklyn in preseason last year, and Jamaal Franklin, the Chinese league star whose G-League rights have been held by the Nets, were selected in the G-League expansion draft this week. Once he’s fully recovered from knee surgery, Beech will join the Erie Bayhawks, Atlanta’s G-League affiliate. Franklin’s rights go to the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ new affiliate. He’s expected to stay in China where he makes nearly $2 million a year.
The Hustle also picked up the rights to Sean Kilpatrick on the off-chance that he gets waived by the Nets. The Hustle will hold his G-League rights for two years. In the highly unlikely event the Nets dumped Fitzgerald, and he wanted to play in the G-League, his rights are held by Memphis.
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