EXCLUSIVE: Nets to hold training camp in San Diego

NetsDaily has learned that the Brooklyn Nets will hold their training camp this year in San Diego, where co-owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai have a home. Camp is slated to open on September 28. As previously reported, Nets will open their preseason vs. the Lakers on October 3 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The Nets will hold Media Day in Brooklyn on September 27, then fly to San Diego on the 28th. They’ll return to New York at some point following the Lakers preseason game.

No details on where the camp will be held but San Diego has a variety of suitable facilities including at San Diego State and UC San Diego. The Tsais have particularly strong connections to UCSD. In April 2020, the Tsais used the UCSD Medical School to distribute a million pieces of PPE early in the pandemic and three months ago, the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation donated a “major gift” to the University’s 21st Century China Center. The Tsais home is in nearby LaJolla.

There are other locations in the city as well, including Pechenga Arena home of the San Diego Seals, Tsai’s National Lacrosse League team.

The Nets in the recent past have held training camp at the U.S. Naval Academy in Anapolis, Md. and Duke University in Durham, NC. In 2010, they traveled to Moscow where they trained before flying on to China for preseason games.

A number of Nets maintain residences in southern California including the “Big Three,” DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin and Spencer Dinwiddie. In past years, they and others have gathered there and conducted informal workouts.

Ironically, the Nets set ABA team and individual records in San Diego. On Valentine’s Day in 1976, the Nets lost to the San Diego Conquistadors, 176-166, in four overtimes. Julius Erving scored 63 points in that game. Both the team’s 166 points and Erving’s 63 points are Nets’ ABA records.

• Nets holding training camp in San Diego - Brian Lewis - New York Post
• Report: Brooklyn Nets to hold training camp in San Diego - Kurt Helin - NBC Sports