Nets hit new low in 121-92 loss to Thunder as season continues to unravel

C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News on Mar 18, 2026

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NEW YORK — Every time you think this Nets season can’t get any worse, somehow it does.

Wednesday night at Barclays Center delivered the latest low. Brooklyn fell to the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-92, dropped to 17-52 and watched its losing streak stretch to five games in a performance that unraveled almost immediately.

For the game, the Nets shot 36.7% and committed 23 turnovers. Jared McCain paced Oklahoma City with 26 points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench. Jalen Wilson led Brooklyn with 15 points and five rebounds, also on reserve duty.

“You feel embarrassed when you score 24 points in a half of basketball,” head coach Jordi Fernández said. “And I do believe, no doubt in my mind, that our guys are better than this. But it’s not about what you believe."

“I think our readiness to play the game was not there.”

The Nets were already shorthanded, playing without Michael Porter Jr., Ben Saraf, Egor Dëmin and Day’Ron Sharpe. Then, as if the night needed another twist, Brooklyn announced between the first and second quarters that Noah Clowney would miss the remainder of the game with a right wrist sprain.

By that point, though, the problem wasn’t one player. It was the entire night.

Oklahoma City beat the Nets 105-86 at Paycom Center on Feb. 20, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t play in that one. On Wednesday, he did, and the gap between the teams was obvious.

The first few minutes looked like neither team could buy a bucket. That didn’t last. Once the Thunder found their rhythm, they didn’t just take control, they proceeded to embarrass Brooklyn on its home floor.

Oklahoma City was missing Luguentz Dort, Jalen Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein, but none of that mattered once Gilgeous-Alexander got going. He was healthy, aggressive and surgical. As he heated up, so did everything around him.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored nine points on 4-for-5 shooting in the first quarter, setting the tone for a Thunder group that shot 50% in the period and built a 28-11 lead heading into the second. Brooklyn, meanwhile, couldn’t get out of its own way. The Nets went 4 for 20 from the field, turned it over seven times and scored 11 points, their lowest first quarter of the season. From there, the game turned into a test of how ugly it could get.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren kept getting to their spots and making Brooklyn pay. The Nets kept piling up misses, breakdowns and turnovers. By halftime, the numbers were egregious. Brooklyn had given the ball away 15 times, which Oklahoma City converted into 22 points, and the Nets went into the locker room down 36 after shooting 23.7% in the first half.

Brooklyn scored 24 points in the half, tied for the lowest-scoring output in any half in franchise history. Tyson Etienne led the Nets at the break with five points on 1-for-4 shooting. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, had multiple players already rolling. Gilgeous-Alexander had 16 of his 20 points, Holmgren had 10 of his 11 and McCain had 10 of his 26.

Whatever hope the Nets had of making this game competitive never arrived. They couldn’t string together stops. They couldn’t generate clean offense. They couldn’t protect the ball. They couldn’t do anything to challenge the defending NBA champions.

Oklahoma City led by as many as 42 points, while the Nets never led, despite outscoring the Thunder 68-61 in the second half.

“We can’t wait until we’re down to say we want to play this way or that way,” Wilson said. “We have to be ready to play from the jump.”

The Nets don’t get much time to sit with it. The Knicks visit Barclays Center on Wednesday for the fourth and final meeting between the interborough rivals, and Brooklyn will be looking to avoid a season sweep.