Brooklyn played without a quintet of players in Friday’s 116-112 preseason-ending loss to Toronto, but starters Nic Claxton and Dorian Finney-Smith are both expected back for Wednesday’s regular-season opener in Atlanta.
“Nic is close. We’re still aiming for the first game of the season,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “He’s done a good job. He’s working hard. So we expect him to play the season opener.”
Finney-Smith was simply being rested Friday after taking a hard spill on his back two nights earlier in Philadelphia.
“Hard fall. Nothing serious. Just precaution,” Fernandez said. “He’s one of the guys that he still would go and run through the wall, and you’ve got to tell him to rest because his body is sore.”
Killian Hayes, Day’Ron Sharpe and Bojan Bogdanovic have all missed the entire preseason.
Sharpe and Bogdanovic are not close to returning, while Hayes is on an Exhibit 10 deal, essentially just a training camp invite.
To keep him for the regular season, the Nets would have to clear out a standard deal to make room for him.
Amari Bailey and Tyrese Martin are also on Exhibit 10s.
The Nets have an open two-way spot.
The Nets must be roster-compliant before opening night, but to do so they’d need to waive the Exhibit 10s or convert them to standard deals (of which they’re devoid) or a two-way (for which Hayes is ineligible).
Ben Simmons returned after sitting out Wednesday in Philadelphia.
After Cam Johnson was used as a high-post creator Wednesday in lieu of Simmons and Claxton — handing out a team-high six assists — he took a scoring role against the Raptors.
The veteran wing poured in a game-high 32 points, shooting 11 of 21, including 7 of 14 from behind the arc, in 32 minutes.
Johnson and Finney-Smith have been on the trade block for some time, linked with the Lakers recently.
“I expect to do it all season. I think interchangeability is what we’re looking for,” Johnson said of his facilitating.
Fernandez agreed, saying that’s something Brooklyn intends to do more of.
“We’ve changed that position a lot,” said Fernandez. “We put him in splits. So it’s something with the way we are playing, everybody’s interchangeable.
“Obviously if we have bigger guys, those would be the guys by design that would go there, but it’s also been pretty cool. When the guys unfortunately got hurt, that’s going to force us to do different things in different ways, and that’s been the result. We’ve created good shots … and it comes from having those guys interchangeable and being ready to catch and shoot.”
Fernandez praised the conditioning and motor of second-year wing Jalen Wilson, who started Friday and had 11 points and five boards.