CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Nets went through 2022 with more drama than any team in the NBA.

They rung in 2023 with the longest winning streak in the league — and the look of a title contender — after a 123-106 drubbing of the Hornets before a sellout crowd of 19,386 at Spectrum Center.

“It was a one of those years you reflect on. You see the turning point in your organization, see different moments that brought us together,” Kevin Durant said. “You start to see us coming together and form what we’ve been looking to do these last couple of years: A solid team that plays hard every night. We went through a lot this calendar year, but we’re looking for bigger and better things in 2023.”

A lot is an understatement. James Harden forced his way out of Brooklyn last season and being shipped to Philadelphia in the deal for Ben Simmons. Durant requested a trade over the summer. Kyrie Irving missed two-thirds of last season due to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19, then was suspended earlier this season.

But after all that, here was Irving pouring in a game-high 28 points and Durant adding 23 Saturday. Here were the Nets (24-12) celebrating New Year’s Eve by extending their winning streak to 11 games, tying the league’s longest run since the Suns won 18 in a row from Oct. 30-Dec. 2, 2021.

It has been the culmination of not just one epiphany, but a host of little turning points at which the Nets turned the right way.

“Just when we came back for this season, it was a lot of talk in the summertime,” Durant said. “But for us to able to bring the group back together to start the year was cool. And then once Jacque [Vaughn] became a coach and we started to move forward then, obviously that was a turning point for us.

“Then we have some stuff that wasn’t ideal: Guys out of the lineup, Kyrie out of the lineup, James Harden demanding a trade. There’s a lot of stuff that we went through how we started the year from outside perspective, the noise around our team. So it’s good that we could be about ball going into this New Year. And we’re playing a solid brand right now. So that’s the most important thing.”

Very solid. Six Nets scored in double figures and they shot 60 percent as a team.

LaMelo Ball had 23 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds to lead the Hornets (10-27). But with Kelly Oubre Jr. out, the Nets held Charlotte to 39.6 percent shooting, and just 11-for-41 from 3-point range. Durant and Royce O’Neale smothered Gordon Hayward, who finished with two points on 1-for-6 shooting from the floor.

It was so lopsided that the Nets led by as many as 22 points and Durant sat the entire fourth quarter.

The Nets had the right approach from the start. Irving found O’Neale for a 3-pointer and a 11-4 lead right out of the gate that was still 32-22 after the first quarter.

“That’s been the lesson for me this year is just learning how to get the best out of everybody instead of trying to do it all yourself or trying to overthink the game,” Irving said. “We’ve got good pieces in that locker room, the coaching staff on the level of play should raise and it should get easier.”

Nic Claxton had 14 points, six boards, and tied a career-high with six blocks. He scored off a Durant feed to make it 57-42 with 1:30 left in the half, and his layup 54 seconds into the third quarter padded the advantage to 66-49.

The second of consecutive Yuta Watanabe left-corner 3-pointers gave the Nets a 97-79 cushion after three. It grew to 118-96 on an Irving 3 with four minutes left, and the Nets cruised to their 15th win in 16 games.

“A lot of ups and downs,” Simmons said of the past year. “I don’t really know how to sum it up. Basketball-wise, it’s been great just adjusting and just evolving. At the start of the year we had some different expectation, a lot of noise, a lot of different things going on. But I think we had a lot of poise with this season and with all the different things going on. So it’s been an eventful year.”