The Brooklyn Nets have been experiencing the beginning of what could be a tough season, especially with the way that the defense is playing in the early going. Brooklyn not only came away from Sunday’s 134-98 loss at the New York Knicks feeling desponded, but the Nets might also have a potentially serious injury to backup center Day’Ron Sharpe following the blowout loss.
“There’s not been any testing, just tightness. So, we’ll do our evaluation and whatever we have to do. So, we’ll see. He played extremely hard,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said after Sunday’s disappointing loss. Sharpe played just 12 minutes against the Knicks due to the fact that he experienced his hamstring tightness with 1:49 left to go in the third quarter and didn’t return to the contest.
“No, I don’t have a camera on myself so it’s hard for me to [explain when Sharpe suffered his injury]. I know that he was fighting and played really hard. So, it’s hopefully nothing. We’ll see what happens,” Fernandez continued. Despite the fact that Sharpe played less than he would have because of his injury, he still finished with 10 points, six rebounds, and one block against a tough Knicks defense.
Sharpe, 24, was having another solid season as the backup to starter Nic Claxton and the former North Carolina Tar Heel is averaging 6.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 64.9% from the field and 64.0% from the free-throw line. Similar to guard Cam Thomas, Sharpe dealt with hamstring issues last season, but he was still able to play in 50 contests despite those soft-tissue difficulties.
As of this writing, the Nets have not given any specifics on Sharpe’s injury and whether it’s just tightness or possibly a strain that could sit him down for a certain length of time. If Sharpe is forced to miss some games to rehab his injury assuming that it’s more than just tightness, possible options for Sharpe’s leftover minutes are forward Noah Clowney and rookie forward Danny Wolf.