Brooklyn Nets rookie Dariq Whitehead said this week he is progressing in his recovery after undergoing a second surgery on his right foot over the summer.
Whitehead missed four games last season at Duke after undergoing surgery on the fifth metatarsal bone before the season. The bone did not heal properly, which prompted a “revision operation with bone grafting for a fifth metatarsal Jones fracture” in June.
The 22nd pick has been limited in training camp and didn’t play in the Nets’ preseason opener on Monday in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is working toward taking part in contact drills in practice, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Dariq Whitehead: “So far Ive been able to do some 1-on-1 on court, pretty much everything in terms of noncontact 5-on-5. The next step is progressing over the next couple of weeks, just going to be making sure I get into that 5-on-5 contact & starting to feel like myself.” #nets
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) October 9, 2023
Nets general manager Sean Marks said last month that Whitehead is expected to play at some point this season. They knew when they drafted Whitehead there would be a chance he’d need additional time to rehab the injury, so he isn’t being rushed back to the court.
The exact role Whitehead will fill is not known, though it is possible the 19-year-old will spend time in the G League once cleared to resume basketball activities. The organization wants to bring him along slowly since he has dealt with the injury for much of the past year.
Whitehead averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and one assist on 42.9% shooting from 3-point range last season as a freshman. He finished second in the ACC in 3-point percentage with the fifth-highest mark of any freshman in program history.
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