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Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr. are the foundation of the Nets rebuild. But going into the season’s fourth game, they’ve played just four minutes together.
The duo’s only action together was a cameo in Cleveland on Saturday. Now, after Brown was rested on the tail end of a back-to-back Sunday, he’s cleared to return — albeit still on a minutes limit — Tuesday in Boston.
With the Nets dragging a winless 0-3 record into TD Garden, seeing Brown potentially play alongside Dëmin would give fans something to look forward to.
But the Nets are intent on slow-playing it.
Brown’s minutes limit has kept him from starting. But asked if he’d look to get him on the floor alongside Dëmin within those constraints, coach Jordi Fernández suggested that’s something dictated by game flow.
“We have all this preparation, the coaches do a great job putting all these pages and film,” Fernández said. “But then at the end of the day, you have to react to a lot of things that are not controllable. Would I like to play them together? Yes. But if I’m just thinking about playing them together, I may not do what’s best for the group at the moment.”
Or what’s best for Brown long-term. The rookie played just 19 games at Louisville, missing the second half of his lone season with a back injury. While a rolled ankle cost him the first three preseason games, it’s more caution over the back injury that had Brown rested Sunday night.
“Correct. There’s not a new injury,” said Fernández. “We’re required to say … So he’s good. He’s doing great. Then after this game, he’ll be ready to go.”
Brown and Dëmin were a plus-5 in their four-minute stint together against the Cavs.
Josh Minott made use of his first extended action Sunday, with 15 points, eight rebounds and two steals in 21:14.
Danny Wolf, Drake Powell and Ben Saraf, all first-round picks in 2025, all saw their first action this season against Indiana. Rookie first-round pick Joshua Jefferson made his NBA debut, logging 3:38.
Pacers center Ivica Zubac rolled his left ankle on teammate Kelly Oubre Jr.’s foot in the first quarter Sunday. He left the arena on crutches.