The Brooklyn Nets suffered a tough loss to the Boston Celtics just two days after getting their second win of the season over the rebuilding Washington Wizards. Brooklyn has been having a rough start to the 2025-26 NBA season and the amount of injuries that the team is dealing with is not helping and it doesn’t seem like the issue is getting better.
The Nets announced on Thursday that rookie guard Ben Saraf remains out with his left ankle sprain that is expected to have him off the floor for at least the next week or so. With Saraf being out of the lineup for the time being, Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernandez will most likely rely on Egor Demin, Terance Mann, and reserve Tyrese Martin to handle the point guard duties for Friday’s NBA Cup game at the Boston Celtics.
Guard Cam Thomas and forward Haywood Highsmith remain out with their respective injuries and at this rate, it seems that both players will be out of action until December at the earliest. Thomas is dealing with a left hamstring strain that is hopefully not going to be a recurring issue for him this season like it was last year while Highsmith is still recovering from offseason surgery on his right knee.
What is probably the most interesting part of the Nets’ injury report is the fact that rookies Nolan Traore and Danny Wolf are back on G League assignment after playing in Tuesday’s 113-99 loss to the Celtics. Granted, it seems like both first-year players were an afterthought in the game as they didn’t enter the game until the last two minutes of what ended up being a poor finish to the fourth quarter by Brooklyn.
Due to injuries and Fernandez tinkering with the rotation, the Nets will likely head into Friday’s matchup in Boston with a starting lineup of Demin, Mann, Michael Porter Jr., Noah Clowney, and Nic Claxton. As of this writing, that five-man lineup as a -13.2 net rating (113.8 offensive rating, 127.0 defensive rating) so something will have to give against the Celtics if the Nets are going to win the game.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Full Nets injury report for Friday’s NBA Cup matchup against Celtics
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
