Injuries to key players combined with a tough schedule filled with NBA heavyweights have been a huge factor in the first 11 games of the 2023-2024 NBA season for the Brooklyn Nets.
Still, Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn had his team off to a 6-5 start following a 124-104 win over the Orlando Magic at home on Tuesday. The Nets have stayed above .500 playing recently without leading scorer Cam Thomas, who has been out since November 8 after suffering a sprained left ankle in the team’s 100-93 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at the Barclays Center.
The 22-year-old guard, in his third season in the NBA, is averaging 26.9 points per game—the highest on the team. He is expected to miss at least another week.
Additionally, forward Ben Simmons, a former three-time NBA All-Star and Brooklyn’s leading rebounder at 10.8 per game, hasn’t played since Monday, November 6, and has been diagnosed with a nerve impingement in the lower left side of his body, which will sideline him indefinitely.
“[Simmons will] be out at least a week,” Vaughn said prior to Tuesday’s game. “I had been telling you guys that he was day-to-day. I tried to give you as much as I can, as honest as I can, and Ben was day-to-day. He was improving, and got to a point where obviously he wasn’t playing.
RELATED: Brooklyn Nets struggle with challenging early schedule
“So we wanted to be extremely thorough,” Vaughn continued. [He] had an MRI yesterday, which was read today, which showed a left side impingement. We’ll look at him a week from now. He has been getting treatment. He’ll continue to get treatment. Hopefully [he] responds to that.”
Simmons has played in six games this season.
The Nets will go into tonight’s game versus the Miami Heat on the road having won two in a row. After a 121-107 loss in Boston to the Celtics last Friday, Brooklyn defeated the Washington Wizards at home on Sunday by 102-94 led by Mikal Bridges’ 27 points, and then defeated the Magic an in In-Season Tournament game paced by Spencer Dinwiddie’s 29.
The Nets, the East’s Group C, are 2-1 in tournament play with wins over the Bulls and Magic and a loss to the Celtics.
Center Nic Claxton’s return from an ankle injury sustained in the season opener has provided the rim protection vital to Brooklyn’s defense. He appeared in just his third game on Tuesday.
“I tell [Nic], he can’t take them fouls home with him, so go ahead and go out there and play,” Vaughn said. “But, overall, you saw his ability in that combination, he and Spencer.
So Spencer’s getting downhill while he is getting to the rim. So that’s a lethal combination to guard. “And then, Nick covers up sins for us on the defensive end of the floor. Let’s just be honest. His ability to come over and deter shots, be a shot blocker, even in foul trouble, you still see him back there. We were able to mix up our defenses because of him and be the aggressor tonight because of him.”
Brooklyn will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday then play the Hawks in Atlanta next Wednesday before beginning a five-game home stand.