It’s time for sports media personalities like Stephen A. Smith to jump off the Brooklyn Nets train

The NBA world finally got its first look at the Brooklyn Nets’ new big three, and most are already disgusted with the return they’ve yielded. It was only the first game of the season, but if lack of motivation (LOM) were a stock, this team would rise in a bullish market. Brooklyn came out on its opening night at home and lost 130-108 to the New Orleans Pelicans.

If you’re a betting person, don’t waste your time or money on this team. Based on the past two seasons, all the Nets will do is disappoint. But it’s astonishing that even with this knowledge, some prominent sports analysts and personalities insist on choosing Brooklyn to make a run to the NBA Finals. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is holding onto this fairytale (like many others) where the Nets face the Golden State Warriors for the championship.

Whatever kind of coffee Smith is drinking, he should probably cut that back by half the amount if he really believes the Nets are making it out of the Eastern Conference. Maybe SAS should take his own advice and “stay off the weeeeeed.” Smith needs to stay away from whatever continues to encourage him to pick the Nets.

Smith also believes anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist Kyrie Irving will be a leading candidate for league MVP this year. SAS made that comment on Tuesday morning’s edition of “First Take,” then Irving promptly went out Wednesday night and shot 6-for-19 (31 percent) and 0-for-6 from three-point range in a 15-point losing performance. Irving has never even received an MVP vote heading into his 12th season. Good luck with that prediction.

One bright spot for the team was the debut of Ben Simmons in a Nets uniform. When I say bright spot, I’m only referring to the fact that he suited up and played. Anything he did during his time on the floor is likely already forgotten by fans, and rightfully so. Simmons finished the game with more fouls than points, rebounds, and assists. Simmons ended the game with four points, five rebounds, five assists, and six fouls. Yes, Simmons fouled out of his first game back after playing just 23 minutes. Looks like Draymond Green has some competition for triple-singles king in The Association.

Kevin Durant did his usual thing on the court, shooting over 52 percent from the field, scoring 32 points, and grabbing three rebounds — and the Nets still lost by a lot. Let’s face it, this team does not have a leader. Durant isn’t a natural-born leader, Irving wants to lead, but no one in their right mind wants to follow, and Simmons….well, he’s just Ben. He’s just happy to be out of Philadelphia.

This team is going nowhere, and they’re in a hurry to get there. Forget the Finals. Let’s see them get out of the first round of the playoffs this year. Hell, win a playoff game. Milwaukee, Boston, Philly, and maybe even Chicago and Toronto are better teams than Brooklyn. You might even be able to throw Miami in that grouping again this season. Those teams may not have the overall “star power,” but we see where that’s taken the Nets thus far.