ORLANDO – The BrooklyKnight has been booted out of its own borough.
After two ill-fated years as the mascot of the Brooklyn Nets, the team has decided to part ways with the unpopular character.
“We put a lot of energy and thought into the BrooklyKnight, but we’ve decided to go in a different direction,” said Barry Baum, Executive Vice President of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center.
The Nets have no plans to have a new mascot in the near future.
The BrooklyKnight was developed with much fanfare to replace Sly Fox, the team’s mascot for its final 15 seasons in New Jersey. Marvel Comics was commissioned to create the character, unveiled by the Nets at their Brooklyn debut on Nov. 3, 2012 against the Raptors.
But despite the work that went into it, the mascot seemed doomed to failure from the beginning. There was a companion comic book created to help promote the mascot’s debut – which depicted Amar’e Stoudemire in the Nets’ locker room.
Then there was the debut of the mascot, lowered from the ceiling with basically no reaction from the crowd, only to get stuck on the tether when the Knight hit the ground.
Ironically, the thing the BrooklyKnight became most known for was a flubbed dunk attempt during a preseason game this past season, which garnered national attention.
Fans never were drawn to the mascot, with many deeming it too scary for children and lacking the comedic value – intentional comedy, at least – that beloved mascots such as Chicago’s Benny the Bull or the Phillie Phanatic provide.