PHILADELPHIA — As Nets center Jarrett Allen stood at his locker in a pink Sonic the Hedgehog T-shirt, his teammate Jared Dudley was across the room dishing on him.

“To be honest with you, Jarrett Allen is probably the key to this franchise moving forward,” Dudley told reporters Tuesday night after the Nets were handily eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers, four games to one, in the first round of the N.B.A. playoffs.

Earlier that night, as the clock wound down on what would be a 122-100 Nets loss and the final game of their season, Dudley told Allen about his time in Milwaukee in 2014-15, when the Bucks went 41-41 and lost in the first round. The Bucks’ star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, with a pre-Greek Freak physique, was 20 years old and in his second season in the league. Allen, in his second season now, turned 21 on Sunday. In the five playoff games this season, he averaged 11 points and 6.8 rebounds.

“Four years ago, look at Giannis’s body,” Dudley told Allen on the bench as they discussed the off-season work ahead in the weight room. “Four years ago, when I played with him, to now.”