With a billionaire owner and a dazzling new stadium in New York City’s most populated borough, the Brooklyn Nets are not everyone’s idea of an underdog.
But in a sport where giants really do walk the court, the Nets have some legitimate claims to being a David among the Goliaths of the National Basketball Association.
For starters, they have no LeBron James or Kobe Bryant and have never won an NBA title. And even if they had they would still remain in the lengthy shadow of their cross-city rivals, the New York Knicks.
The Nets have come a long way over the last 12 months, defying the odds to make the NBA playoffs, but they remain longshots to win the championship.
A year ago the Nets were one of the worst teams in the NBA, struggling to win games and failing to fill seats at their old arena in New Jersey, which they shared with the National Hockey League’s Devils.
Thanks to the financial backing of Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who helped build the Barclays Center, they have a new home which is filled for every game, and a new name in Brooklyn.
The turnaround has been as rapid as it has been impressive.