The Nets are officially gone, but there may be another basketball team in Newark at some point.
NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver would not rule out a team eventually moving to New Jersey down the line.
“Well, I know (Newark mayor) Cory Booker understood that having the Nets in Newark was temporary, and I think the results were mixed — in large part because the team was not performing optimally on the court,’’ Silver told NJ.com.
“But Newark did everything it promised to do; it’s a fantastic arena, and while there’s no NBA team looking to relocate at the moment, I think Newark demonstrated that it has viability as a stand-alone market in the NBA.”
The Nets moved from the Meadowlands to The Rock, a home they split with the Devils, two years ago with plans to head to Brooklyn after this season already in place. Silver said having the Knicks in Manhattan and the Nets in Brooklyn would not eliminate New Jersey as a possibility.
“I don’t know,” Silver told the website. “I’m not going to make that decision now. We have a process; we have a relocation committee. We would look at factors, in terms of population, the corporate community, television households, etc.
“But certainly it’s been done in other sports (the Rangers, Devils and Islanders of the NHL do it), and it’s something we would have to look at,” he said. “But all I know is that Newark has expressed interest in having its own team; I’ve heard Shaq (Newark native Shaquille O’Neal) say that he would like to be the owner of that team. And it’s a wonderful state — we’ve had a great history there.”