{"id":86967,"date":"2026-01-01T23:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T23:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/86967\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T23:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T23:32:07","slug":"drake-powell-danny-wolf-thrust-into-starting-roles-as-nets-open-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/86967\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Powell, Danny Wolf thrust into starting roles as Nets open new year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nets<\/a> opened the new year Thursday night at Barclays Center shorthanded and reshuffled, missing three starters against one of the better teams in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr. was ruled out against the Houston Rockets with an illness, Terance Mann sat with a right hip contusion and rookie Egor D\u00ebmin was held out because of lower back soreness. The absences forced Brooklyn into another round of rotation juggling and put immediate pressure on a group already navigating its fifth back-to-back set of the season.<\/p>\n

Those openings came with opportunity, though not exactly as expected.<\/p>\n

Rookies Drake Powell and Danny Wolf were inserted into the starting lineup for the first time in their NBA careers, while Nolan Traor\u00e9, initially expected to draw the nod, was instead slated for extended minutes off the bench. Ziaire Williams did step into a starting role after falling out of the rotation in recent games, but Cam Thomas remained with the second unit for the third straight game since returning from injury<\/a>, continuing a gradual reintegration process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about replacing them, because they all do very special things,\u201d head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cIt\u2019s about a next-man-up mentality. And do it by committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Traor\u00e9, the role adjustment didn\u2019t change the plan. He entered the night having appeared in four straight games, averaging 6.5 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 17.5 minutes per game while shooting 44.4% from 3-point range. Fern\u00e1ndez said the focus remained on consistency rather than usage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t need to make the home run play,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe just needs to hit singles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolf\u2019s promotion came with its own expectations. The rookie big has earned minutes through defensive positioning, ball movement, and feel, but Fern\u00e1ndez said the next step is assertiveness, especially as a shooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him the other day he can\u2019t go through whatever minutes he played and not get a 3-point attempt,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of his superpowers, his size, his shooting ability, his playmaking, and I need him to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez emphasized that Wolf\u2019s development shouldn\u2019t be judged solely by box scores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the minutes are super valuable,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe\u2019s always asking, watching film, working. You can see the willingness of how can I get 1 percent better. I don\u2019t need the guys to get 5% better in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin\u2019s absence marked the third time this season he and Porter have missed one end of a back-to-back. With Brooklyn scheduled to face the Washington Wizards on Friday night, Fern\u00e1ndez acknowledged the physical toll looming as the schedule tightens.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019ll play four games a week for five straight weeks,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cWe\u2019ll always put their bodies and their health first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nets opened the new year Thursday night at Barclays Center shorthanded and reshuffled, missing three starters against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,4602,7937,7935,21,4475,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-86967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-cam-thomas","12":"tag-danny-wolf","13":"tag-drake-powell","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nets","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86967","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=86967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}