Brooklyn Nets forward Mo Wagner was one of the veterans that the Nets brought in this offseason as the team was looking to be better than they were last season. With Brooklyn staring at a 2-8 record through their first 10 games, it seems that the plan is going accordingly, but Wagner had some advice for one of the youngest teams in the NBA as they're dealing with adversity.
"It's never all bad and it's never all good. It's not never as as bad as it looks, but our body language does drop," Wagner said to the media following Sunday's 130-93 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The Nets are no stranger to adversity despite it being so early in the season as they've already had some winnable games that they let slip through their collective fingers due
to various reasons.
"I think we lack a little maturity there as a group. It's nobody's fault. It's just everybody kind of [getting used to] new roles. Everybody's getting used to it, which isn't an excuse," Wagner continued. "Even on the back-to-back, it's not [an excuse]. It's something we have to look in the mirror for everybody for himself and kind of figure it out."
Wagner's comments aren't the first time that Nets players or head coach Jordi Fernandez have had to discuss how the team looks on the floor once the game isn't going their way. With Sunday's game against Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving, and the Mavericks as the latest example, Brooklyn kept up with them for the first quarter, but Dallas amassed as much as a 26-point lead in the second quarter and at that point, the Nets looked like they were out of gas.
Part of what Fernandez and the players have been focusing on this season is staying connected as a team, especially when the team is facing a double-digit deficit or when makeable shots are just not falling for them. So far, it's safe to say that Brooklyn hasn't done the best job of staying together through the adverse circumstances, but veterans like Wagner are trying to help the team get to that point however they can.
"It's something we have to look in the mirror for."
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) November 9, 2026
Moe Wagner discusses facing adversity head-on as a team and pushing through in tough spots. pic.twitter.com/AX9a65aCN3
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Mo Wagner explains how young team should try to handle adversity
