As mentioned plenty of times in recent memory, the Brooklyn Nets are hanging on to their postseason hopes by a thread as they trail the Atlanta Hawks by 4.5 games for the 10th and final seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. Going into an important matchup on Thursday at the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn will be missing a key rotation player and could be missing another.
In the Nets’ initial injury report for Thursday’s game at the Bucks, Brooklyn has a couple of listings that are concerning to say the least in terms of the team’s firepower. For starters, Dorian Finney-Smith, the Nets’ starting power forward for the majority of this season, is out for the contest due to left ankle soreness.
Based on the past few injury reports, Finney-Smith had been dealing with that left ankle soreness for the past couple of games, but was able to play through it in Sunday’s 122-115 overtime loss at the San Antonio Spurs and Tuesday’s 104-91 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. With Finney-Smith not playing, forward Cam Johnson will most likely start in his place.
The other notable addition to the report is that center Nic Claxton is questionable for the matchup due to an illness. This is the first time that Claxton has been listed on the report due to an illness so the hope is that he can play through it.
If Claxton is unable to go, backup center Day’Ron Sharpe would probably take his place in the starting lineup. Finney-Smith and Claxton have been two of the more available players for the Nets as they have played 60 and 59 of Brooklyn’s 69 games played, respectively.
Nets status report for tomorrow's night's game at the Milwaukee Bucks:
Nic Claxton (illness) and Noah Clowney (G League) are QUESTIONABLE.
Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle soreness) is OUT.
Jacob Gilyard, Keon Johnson, and Jaylen Martin are in the G League.
— Sharif Phillips-Keaton (@SharifKeaton) March 20, 2024
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