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Mikel Brown Jr.’s second career game could present him with a long-awaited matchup against his friend and mentor, Donovan Mitchell.
But the former Louisville stars won’t share the court for much — if any — time Saturday night in Cleveland.
The minutes restriction placed on the No. 6 overall pick in his NBA debut will remain in effect for the foreseeable future.
“It’s how it is until we change it, and right now we know the sample size is going to be way bigger,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said after Friday’s practice. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, one game, he’s good to go.’ … I mean, if you guys think about it, he played [21 games last season]. This season is 82, right? Is he gonna play all 82? No.
“We feel like he can take steps. Obviously, at some point he’ll be able to play more games and be able to play back to backs, but it’s not right now or anytime soon.”
Brown — who could sit against the Cavaliers or for Sunday’s home game against the Pacers — missed the Nets’ first three preseason games with an ankle injury. The 20-year-old was then limited to 18 minutes in the preseason finale and just under 20 minutes in the season-opening loss to the Hornets, in which he finished with six points, three rebounds and three assists while shooting 2 of 8 from the field.
In his lone season at Louisville, Brown missed 14 games due to a lower back injury, but Brooklyn felt comfortable enough with his recovery to make the 6-foot-4 guard the franchise’s highest draft pick in 16 years.
“We’re gonna build him to be healthy and to be a strong NBA player,” Fernández said. “We have a plan for him. Obviously, we’re not gonna disclose every step of the way, but the No. 1 thing is to build him up and build up his body to be able to sustain the minutes that can help the team win games.”
Louisville was 16-3 with Brown in the lineup before he suffered the back injury that sidelined him for the postseason. He scored 29 points in his third college game in a win over rival Kentucky. He tied a school record and set an ACC freshman single-game record with 45 points in February.
The need for Brown’s explosiveness was evident in Game 1 in Brooklyn, when the Nets had only two double-digit scorers (Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr.).
But patience is required.
His ceiling won’t be seen anytime soon.
“I’m really excited for Mikel to continue to grow and play and get more minutes and be out there with us,” Porter Jr. said. “There’s been practices where he’s completely dominated, played with the second group and won the day because he was killing it. He has so many tools to be elite offensively and defensively in the future.
“But offensively, for sure he’s a high-level scorer, he’s a high-level shotmaker, he can get others involved, so there’s not a lot of weakness in his game. As he gets more minutes, it’ll slow down for him. He has a very bright future. He has already shown that.”