Nets fall to shorthanded Hornets for sixth straight season-opening loss

This year, the Nets won’t be trying to lose on purpose.

But they started the season by doing it anyway.

Brooklyn dropped a disappointing opener 110-103 to the visiting Hornets before a sellout crowd of 17,548 at Barclays Center on Wednesday.

It was the Nets’ sixth straight season-opening defeat. And this was a deflating one for a team trying to put three tough seasons behind it and turn the page. They desperately wanted to come out of the gate well and build some momentum.

Moussa Diabate rises up for a dunk during the Nets’ 110-103 loss to the Hornets on Oct. 21, 2026 at Barclays Center. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Losing to a shorthanded, eminently beatable Charlotte team with a grueling six-game gantlet looming risks building all the wrong kinds of momentum.

Rookie lottery pick Mikel Brown Jr. made his debut, while Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. led the way.

But the Nets were sloppy with the ball and beaten on the glass.

“We’ve got to — including myself, I put it on me — we’ve got to impose our physicality on those things and hit people first. So I’ll set a tone with that,” Randle said. “A lot of times rebounding is just wanting to go get it, and wanting your will to go get the ball or not let your man get the ball. So we all got to be better on that front.”

Randle had 33 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, joining James Harden and Kyrie Irving as the only Nets with at least 30-5-5 in their debut.

And Porter added 26 points, seven boards and three steals.

But it wasn’t enough, thanks to getting outscored 20-8 in second chance points and committing 22 turnovers to just 22 assists.

This against a Hornets team minus Kon Knueppel and Coby White. And with six straight upcoming against teams projected for 44.5 wins by Las Vegas bookmakers.

Julius Randle argues with an official during the Nets’ season-opening loss to the Hornets. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

“Yeah, we did a lot of things that were just self-inflicted. Things that we know we can be better at, and we will be,” Randle said. “We could have been better.”

They should’ve been better.

With the Hornets depleted, the Nets could concentrate on stopping Brandon Miller — but they couldn’t even slow him early. He had 12 of his 18 points right out of the gate to put Brooklyn in a 21-15 hole with 2:37 left in the first quarter.

The Nets spent much of the rest of the night chasing.

Noah Clowney (left) and Ryan Kalkbrenner scuffle during the second quarter. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Porter was held to just six points in a muted first half. He drilled two quick 3-pointers coming out of the break to pull Brooklyn within four, and his 4-point play gave them a 64-62 lead with 8:12 left in the third. He even notched steals on back-to-back possessions.

But sloppy turnovers and coughing up long offensive rebounds on missed Hornets 3s came back to bite them.

That, and poor play from young guards Egor Dëmin and Nolan Traore, who combined for just seven points on 2-for-14 shooting, 0-for-5 from deep with two assists and five turnovers.

“I’m not very happy with how I end up playing the game. I started with two scored buckets, but then just got slower from a standpoint of my intensity. I’ve definitely got to bring higher energy, whether I’m on the ball, off the ball, in the corner and wherever I am, whatever position I’m playing,” Dëmin said. “I missed every single shot from 3; some shots that I believe were supposed to go in. But it happens … getting downhill again, I’ve got to get better at finishing, because the situations are there.

“Opportunities are there, everything is given to me and I just got to be able to execute on the level that I want to be at.”

On a minutes limit, Brown was limited to six points and three assists in nearly 20 minutes of action, but looked sharp.