At the Major Owens Community Center in Crown Heights on Oct. 4, the Brooklyn Nets held “Nets Fest.”
Previously celebrated as “Practice in the Park,” the franchise had its pre-season celebration in the form of a full-fledged festival, reported Netsdaily. The festival hosted a barber shop station, an NBA 2K space, face painting, a Q&A with players such as Julius Randle, Kenyon Martin and Buck Williams and of course, basketball games.
Currently players such as Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Dëmin joined the festivities as well as ‘80s Nets legend and Brooklyn native Albert King.
“I think Brooklyn is all about community, and for us, as a team, it’s very important to be able to connect with people, with our fans,” said Dëmin, the guard entering his second year with the franchise.
Dëmin emphasized the importance of the connection between the franchise and the city they represent. “I feel like a part of the city,” he said. “And I want to embrace that.”
Brown Jr., the NBA rookie, made a point to influence youth. “It’s very important,” he said. “The youth that’s coming behind us, we kind of are like role models for them, in a sense.”
King told Netsdaily that he is only from one chapter of Brooklyn basketball history, but that different fans across different chapters of that history mean a lot to the franchise.
The Nets hosted basketball clinics on the court, gathering teams to compete for prizes, and hyping up the community for the upcoming season.
“My message is just one: Show out,” Brown Jr. told Netsdaily. “I really do feel like we’re going to shock the world with this team and this group of guys that we got."
The Nets kick off their pre-season against the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Their first regular season matchup, also against Charlotte, is set to take place at Barclays Center on Oct. 21.
