DALLAS — The winless Nets (0-2) headed to Charlotte to face the Hornets on Monday night with their starting frontcourt still very much in doubt.
Center Nic Claxton and power forward Cam Johnson missed Friday night’s loss to the Mavericks and were in question even after an extra day’s rest.
“Yeah, I’d say both of them are still day-to-day. We’ll see what they feel like [Monday],” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. “Good thing we had a couple of days in between.
But both on a day-to-day right now.”
Johnson was out with a left calf contusion suffered during the season-opening loss to Cleveland last Wednesday.
The sweet-shooting forward, who sat out the entire preseason slate with a mild hamstring injury, was at least back out on the court and shooting at Sunday’s practice in Dallas.
Claxton has been sidelined with a left ankle sprain, also sustained in the defeat against the Cavaliers.
He arrived at morning shootaround before Friday’s game with his foot in a walking boot, and was still wearing it at Sunday’s practice.
“I mean, of course we need him. That’s our guy right there,” Ben Simmons said.
To a man, the Nets all acknowledge that Cam Thomas is the best tough shot-maker on their roster.
But they’ve also noted how the 22-year-old guard has matured over the past season to make his rapid rise sustainable.
“It’s just maturity-wise. Just from last year to this year to see how much he’s grown, the work he’s put in over the summer and even in training camp and preseason, all the progress and hard work that he did it’s paying off,” Royce O’Neale said. “I think he’s gonna keep getting better.”
Brooklyn has already started its season, but some of their younger players will get a chance to see action as the G-League Nets begin preparations for theirs.
The Long Island Nets start training camp on Tuesday, with Brooklyn two-ways Jalen Wilson and Armoni Brooks slated to be there.
First-round picks Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney, both just 19 and the youngest players ever drafted by the Nets, are expected to join them.
Whitehead, a Newark native who played a season at Duke, has been recovering from foot surgery.
He’s progressed from going one-on-one to two-on-two, moving toward full five-on-five contact in the near future.
Big man Patrick Gardner, the Long Island native who starred for the Egyptian national team in the FIBA World Cup this summer, also will be with Long Island.
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