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NBA’s DeMarre Carroll Says NYC Is Pumped For The Nets’ Playoff Push

By Kristina Smolenski Nelson
Published on: 13:07 PST, Mar 21, 2019

Brooklyn’s been buzzing about their basketball team lately, and the Nets are nearly in the playoffs. Seeing the excitement and support of the city and their fans has been important to the team, and DeMarre Carroll couldn’t be happier about the enthusiasm he sees surrounding his team.

Cheering on the Nets isn’t the traditional focus of basketball locally. New York, in the past, has primarily cheered on the Knicks, a team that has been at the center of New York culture for a very long time. In 2012, the Nets left New Jersey and arrived in Brooklyn, but the team has never been fully embraced by people in the area. Most New York locals still preferred the Knicks and couldn’t switch their preference to a team that came from their rival state, New Jersey.

This year, however, New York locals have had to pay attention to the Nets, mainly because the team is performing better than expected. Right now, the Nets are seventh in the East, and a lot of that has to do with some fantastic player performances. D’Angelo Russell is one of those players making massive contributions to his team, and he is happy to see that the locals are getting excited about the Nets making the playoffs. On the other hand, the Knicks have a 14-58 record, and are last in the league.

“I think everybody’s excited about what’s going on, so it’s a big time for the city,” Carroll said, according to TMZ

When Carroll first came to the Nets, a lot of people felt Toronto was trying to cut back on their salary cap, and many in New York felt that Carroll might be overpriced. However, Carroll has proven himself to be an integral part of the Nets’ performance this year, and he has had one of the best seasons of his career. Currently, he averages 29.9 minutes, 13.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game, according to Nothing But Nets.

Since basketball is slowly closing in on its offseason, trade rumors are everywhere, and Carroll was linked to a few of these. However, Sean Marks, the general manager of the Nets, traded Jeremy Lin to the Atlanta Hawks instead, freeing up millions in salary cap space. The Nets preferred to retain Carroll, and he’s been viewed as one of the key necessities the Nets must utilize to make it to the playoffs.

“I think we’re going to be very important. We’ve got a lot of guys who have played at a high level off the bench. It’s valuable to have guys who are unselfish come off the bench. We’re trying to play unselfish basketball. I think it will be key for us,” Carroll said, according to Newsday.

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