NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets have a very winnable game on Friday as they face the Washington Wizards at Barclays Center before embarking on a five-game west coast road trip against some tough competition. They will unfortunately be taking on that tough task without arguably their best player off the bench.
“He will not play on the west coast road trip,” Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said prior to Friday’s game of potential sixth man of the year candidate Lonnie Walker IV. Walker is currently out of the lineup while he deals with a left hamstring strain that he picked up in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 30. Walker has missed the past two games with the injury.
As of right now, it seems that the decision left to make on Walker is whether he will make the road trip. “Yeah, that’s more travel logistics,” Vaughn explained. “Is it best for him to stay back and get treatment here? We haven’t decided that yet.”
Vaughn also explained why backup guard Dennis Smith Jr. (upper back soreness) was ruled out for Friday’s game against Washington. “Upper back not acting right,” Vaughn said. “He did participate in shootaround, wasn’t a bunch, and then reported some stiffness after that. Listed him as questionable, then he got reassessed, tried to get to a place to play, and just won’t be able to go tonight.”
Smith missed six games during the second half of November due to a lower back sprain, but there’s no indication of whether either injury is connected. Vaughn mentioned that it’s still too soon to say whether Smith will miss any games on the road trip.
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