Jan. 29, 2026, 7:30 a.m. ET
The Brooklyn Nets have been having a rough month in January as they are trying to figure out how to be more consistent on both ends of the floor. Brooklyn is coming off one of its most competitive games of the month with their 106-102 loss at the Phoenix Suns, but they will be missing a significant amount of their rotation heading into Thursday’s game at the Denver Nuggets.
The Nets announced on Wednesday that forwards Haywood Highsmith, Ziaire Williams, and Noah Clowney are out for Thursday’s clash at the Nuggets due to their respective injuries. In addition, guards Egor Demin and Cam Thomas are out for the game as the team is trying to manage the injuries that they’ve been dealing with over the course of this season.
Highsmith, who is recovering from offseason surgery on his right knee, is still not at the point where he can take the floor for the Nets and there hasn’t been an update on his condition at this time. Clowney has missed the first two games of the current five-game, west-coast road trip due to back soreness, but for Thursday’s contest at the Nuggets, Brooklyn lists him as out due to back injury management.
Williams, who is listed as out due to a left calf contusion, appears to have suffered his injury in Tuesday’s loss at the Suns after he was run into by a Suns staffer in the midst of a scuffle that took place with over one minute left to play in the fourth quarter. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez acknowledged that Williams suffered an injury after the fracas, but he, along with Williams’ teammates, was hoping that the injury wouldn’t keep him out for the long-term.
Lastly, veteran forward Terance Mann is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game at Denver due to back soreness, an injury that he may have picked up during Tuesday’s loss at Phoenix. Mann had a drive to the basket where he was pushed to the ground by Suns guard Grayson Allen, resulting in Mann writhing on the floor in pain, but also triggering the officials to review the play for a possible flagrant foul.
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With Demin being ruled out and Mann potentially missing Thursday’s game at the Nuggets, that could give way for players like rookies Danny Wolf and Ben Saraf to enter the starting lineup, assuming that Fernandez wants to lean in the direction against the veteran-laden Nuggets. However, Brooklyn will be playing on the first night of a back-to-back so they are hoping that they can pull off an upset over forward Michael Porter Jr.’s former team.