Brooklyn Nets rookie forward Drake Powell has not had the kind of summer he was hoping for after being selected with the 19th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Powell recently returned to Brooklyn’s training camp after dealing with left knee tendinopathy and while he has progressed to contact, fans will have to wait to see him play.
According to ClutchPoints’ Erik Slater, Powell will not be playing in Saturday’s preseason game against Hapoel ‘Bank Yahav’ Jerusalem as he continued to get acclimated to contact and being back on the floor. Powell himself recently spoke on what it’s been like watching from the sidelines while he healed from his tendinopathy along with keeping the main thing the main thing.
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“I’ve had one day of contact, which was yesterday,” Powell said to the media after Tuesday’s training camp. “It’s been great. Just being able to be a student of the game, still trying to learn different concepts to this new system that I’m in.”
While Powell will not be able to play in Saturday’s preseason game, he is expected to play while the Nets are in Macao, China to play against the Phoenix Suns. That could imply that head coach Jordi Fernandez and company are being more cautious with Powell given how much time he missed in the summer, but potentially could play.
This preseason will be an interesting one for the Nets as the team will have to decide what the rotation will look like prior to the season-opener at the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 22. For someone like Powell, missing the summer league and valuable time during training camp put him behind the curve, but his health is more important at this point in time, based on Brooklyn’s actions.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Drake Powell will not play Saturday vs. Hapoel Jerusalem