The Brooklyn Nets have shut down Day’Ron Sharpe, their 24-year-old back-up center, after he was diagnosed with a tear of his left thumb ligament, the team announced shortly before Thursday’s game with the Atlanta Hawks.
The Nets did not initially state how Sharpe had injured his thumb or when but later Jordi Fernandez said the thumb had been bothering Sharpe all season and believed the injury may have occurred vs. the Grizzlies Monday. Indeed, Sharpe has been wearing a brace on his left thumb recently. Sharpe has become one of the NBA’s top back-ups and recently became the top offensive rebounder by percentage in NBA history (200 games or more.)
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He’s the second Nets player in the last two days to get shut down. It was announced Wednesday that Egor Dëmin, who has been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left heel since his pre-draft workouts a year ago, will also sit for Brooklyn’s final 16 games.
The decision also leaves the Nets short, literally and figuratively, at the 5 with only one natural center, Nic Claxton, although 6’11” Danny Wolf, more of a forward, is likely to fill in Thursday night. On Monday, the Nets did not renew 7-footer Grant Nelson’s 10-day contract; though Nelson profiles as somewhat of a tweener long-term, he certainly would give Brooklyn more size up front.
At the moment, Brooklyn is a half-game out of third place in the lottery standings and two games out of the worst record in the NBA. The decision to shut down two rotation players — particularly Sharpe — could certainly affect their ping-pong ball fortunes going forward.
To this point in the season, Sharpe has appeared in 62 games for Brooklyn, the most of any Net. The team is also nearly seven points per 100 possessions better with Sharpe on the floor, also a team-best. This continues a three-year long trend with the bruising back-up big; since the beginning of the 2023-24 season, the Nets have a nearly even -0.09 net rating with Sharpe on the floor in 2,990 minutes, and a sad -8.54 net rating in the 8,062 minutes he has been sitting on the bench, per PBP Stats
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As we’ve noted, on/off data isn’t the be-all end-all, there’s some wonky 3-point numbers involved, and Sharpe is no perfect center. Still, the UNC product has made a name for himself as one of the most effective reserves in the league. This season, he even made a high percentage of his shots around the rim — previously a wart in his profile. Is he aided by playing low-minute totals, often against other bench units? Perhaps. Still, his production this season was undeniable…
Officially, Day’Ron Sharpe averaged 8.7/6.7/2.3 on 63.8% true shooting this season, playing 19 minutes a night. All of those numbers represent a career-high.
After leading the Nets to a comeback win against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was full of praise for Sharpe: “He’s got great size, he plays extremely hard, he’s physical on the interior, he doesn’t back down … The thing that stands out when you watch the tape is just the effort that he puts forth. And when you mix that effort with his size and skill, he can create problems for you on both ends.”
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As for Brooklyn’s head coach, Jordi Fernández spoke about the injury before the Nets took on the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday evening, saying, “I’m very happy with what I’ve seen from Day’Ron, the hard work he’s put in and how much better he’s gotten.”
Fernández also added that he “believed” the injury occurred on Monday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, but that the thumb had been “bothering” Day’Ron previously.
Now, Day’Ron Sharpe can look ahead to the summer, where the Brooklyn Nets have a team option for the second year of the two-year, $12.5 million contract they signed him to last summer. The team could, of course, choose to decline that option and hope to sign Sharpe to a long-term deal. Either way, #29 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft has progressed quite nicely since arriving in Brooklyn, though his fifth season in the NBA has come to a premature end.