{"id":104218,"date":"2026-01-18T22:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/104218\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T22:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:22:21","slug":"nolan-traores-role-in-the-nets-offense-is-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/104218\/","title":{"rendered":"Nolan Traore\u2019s role in the Nets\u2019 offense is growing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nolan Traore<\/a>\u2019s shot still isn\u2019t falling. Over his last four games, the Nets rookie guard is shooting just 27.3% and he\u2019s at 31.4% on the season. Those offensive struggles are hard to hide.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019ve watched Brooklyn lately, you\u2019ve seen something else, too. Traore is starting to look like he belongs. Not just as a change-of-pace guard who can juice the tempo, but as a young floor general who\u2019s beginning to understand what it takes to run an NBA offense possession by possession, read by read.<\/p>\n

That progress showed up in the Nets\u2019 112-109 win over the Chicago Bulls<\/a> Friday at Barclays Center, when head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez leaned on Traore late instead of fellow rookie Egor D\u00ebmin<\/a>. Traore ended up logging a career-high 27:57 and it wasn\u2019t empty cardio. He finished with a career-best seven assists, stayed on the floor for nearly the entire fourth quarter and looked comfortable commanding the team in crunch time.<\/p>\n

The bigger point wasn\u2019t just that Traore played. It was why he played.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez has been preaching physicality and defensive presence from day one, and Friday was another reminder that playing time in this rotation isn\u2019t strictly tied to draft position, hype or future projections. It\u2019s tied to trust. To details. To the standard Fern\u00e1ndez has established.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed Egor to lead with this physicality, and those are conversations he and I have,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said afterward. \u201cI know he can do it\u2026 And when I see that we start the quarter or the half and he doesn\u2019t bring that level of physicality \u2026 and same thing towards the end of the game. I thought I needed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a shot at D\u00ebmin as much as it is a snapshot of what the Nets are building. Fern\u00e1ndez is coaching the present while developing the future, and Traore has earned his way into more meaningful minutes by doing the things young guards usually struggle with. He\u2019s organizing, competing and making the game easier for others.<\/p>\n

Traore is averaging 5.8 points and 5.0 assists with just 1.8 turnovers over his last four games, while playing 22.3 minutes per night off the bench. While his scoring comes and goes, his playmaking is beginning to become a constant. He\u2019s getting downhill with purpose, forcing defenders to make choices and then punishing the help when it shows up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he\u2019s super fast,\u201d Nic Claxton<\/a> said. \u201cOnce he keeps figuring out how to utilize his speed out there, he\u2019s going to be a problem. Just seeing this grow from day one to now, him figuring out the league, figuring out when to pick his spots, when to get downhill, when to kick out to the threes, and he has a really good feel for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traore\u2019s speed steals headlines, but his feel for the game is what makes it useful. Anybody can be quick. Not everybody can be quick and controlled, quick and connected, quick while still making the right pass to the right shooter at the right time. And the Nets have veterans who know the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean his superpower is obviously his speed, his foot speed,\u201d Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> said, \u201cAnd he\u2019s been utilizing that, getting downhill, getting in the lane, finding guys, and he\u2019s a great passer. So, he\u2019s going to be really good\u2026 and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how he develops, him and Egor at that point guard position.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Traore may not be dominating games yet, he\u2019s certainly steering them, and Noah Clowney described the impact he\u2019s had, even without the jumper cooperating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been doing really good getting into the paint,\u201d Clowney said, \u201cor even if [he\u2019s] not getting into the paint, coming off with enough speed to pull the low man in and skip corner or hit the pull behind\u2026 Just keeping the defense honest\u2026 Elite burst, and defensively, moves his feet\u2026 but he fights. I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That last part is the key. He fights.<\/p>\n

Traore\u2019s still thin. Still learning angles. Still adjusting to grown-man strength and NBA whistles. He\u2019s going to get bumped off his line. He\u2019s going to get caught on screens. He\u2019s going to have possessions where his body loses the battle.<\/p>\n

But the film is showing more resistance now. More activity. More possessions where he\u2019s not just surviving defensively, he\u2019s competing. And that\u2019s a major reason Fern\u00e1ndez has stuck with him even through a cold shooting stretch, and why the coach\u2019s confidence in the young French guard continues to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he shoots, I think it\u2019s going in, and he doesn\u2019t hesitate to shoot the ball,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cThat, to me, is very important because it\u2019s going to get to the point of confidence and maturity that for the most part is always going to go in. When you lose your confidence for a little bit, he\u2019s going to regain it back quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nolan Traore\u2019s shot still isn\u2019t falling. Over his last four games, the Nets rookie guard is shooting just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,85,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":["post-104218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}