After two summer league games — and two DNPs for Mikel Brown Jr. — Nets fans may finally get to see their prized rookie on Monday.
The Nets split their first two contests tilts at the California Classic, dropping their opener Saturday at Sacramento before beating Milwaukee 89-69 the next day.
Brown, Danny Wolf and Nolan Traore all sat out against the Kings, while they had an even more threadbare lineup Sunday. But Brown — the No. 6 pick in last month’s draft — is expected to make his pro debut Monday against Golden State.
“The approach for the last game, have our roster guys back into the rotation. The hope is that Mikel is ready to play,” Nets summer league coach Dutch Gaitley said. “We’ll see about Danny, see how his back’s feeling.
“But these guys did a great job of setting the tone of ‘this is how we play Brooklyn basketball.’ And we need our guys to continue to strive for what our guys did today. And if our Brooklyn roster can play how our guys played [Sunday], we’re gonna have a lot of success.”
Brown missed a total of 14 games during his freshman campaign at Louisville with a lower back injury — eight games from December to early January, then six at the end of the season.
Now the Nets hope Brown will make his pro debut, though Gaitley wouldn’t put a percentage on the point guard suiting up.
“That is above my pay grade,” Gaitley said. “I think the plan is that he is going to play, but I don’t make the final decisions.”
The Nets held the Bucks to just 32 .324 percent shooting Sunday. Ben Humrichous had 15 points, eight rebounds and shot 5-for-12 from 3-point range. Hunter Sallis — James Harden’s cousin — added 15 points, six assists and six boards while Dion Brown was a plus-27 before limping off at the end.
The Nets sat Wolf, Nolan Traore Trarore (knee scope), Egor Dëmin, Ben Saraf, Drake Powell, Tyler Bilodeau and Chaney Johnson.
The trade that brought the Nets rookie Joshua Jackson becomes official Monday. Milwaukee didn’t have rookie Nate Ament available for the same reason.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
