In their last two games, the Nets and Wizards both lost and gave up up nearly 300 points — 294 to be exact. Do you need to know anything more?
… And we feel fine!
Last night was not as terrible as you think. First and foremost, the Nets continued the tankathon in a successful fashion! It was a bad loss, yes. Kawhi Leonard terrorized Brooklyn in basically every aspect of the game, yes. But guess what, they are now (again) in sole possession of fifth in lottery odds. It will be difficult to climb any higher as the Nets will face have opponents that are losing as well, and the teams in first through fourth are not winning enough.
Secondly, Drew Timme and Tyson Etienne had their very first NBA games today, and boy did they perform. Ettiene was impressive as he put up eight points in 10 minutes of action, but it was Timme who not only stole the show. And both made history in different ways.
Etienne became the 5,000th player in the 79-year history of the NBA.
HISTORY MADE
Tyson Etienne, who’s on a two-way contract with Brooklyn, has become the 5000th to take the court in an NBA game.
Only 5,000 in almost 80 years. The absolute cream of the crop.
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) March 29, 2025
Timme put up 11 points and 10 rebounds, making him the fifth player in franchise history to record a double double in their debut. Not bad for the Gonzaga alum.
Drew Timme on when he found out the Nets were offering him a contact:
“I was just playing some FIFA, and then my phone started blowing up. I was like, huh, what?”
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) March 28, 2025
Tonight, the Nets will be taking on the Washington Wizards in the last back-to-back of the season. The Wizards are coming off an even worse loss against the Indiana Pacers (53 points to be exact). Still, former Nets assistant coach Brian Keefe has had the Wiz playing better post All-Star break. They’re now only the NBA’s second worst team. The Jazz have two more losses.
Where To Watch
Check out the action at 7:00 p.m. ET on the YES Network or the Gotham Sports App or if you’re out of town, there’s always the NBA League Pass.
Injury Report
Cam Thomas (hamstring) and DeAnthony Melton (ACL) are out for the season. Day’Ron Sharpe will miss his third straight game with a sprained right knee and both D’Angelo Russell and Nic Claxton will be resting on the back end of a back-to-bad. Noah Clowney’s questionable with illness. Cam Johnson, rested on Friday, will be back. The G League kids are all available.
For the Wizards, it’s looking rough. Khris Middleton (knee), Kyshawn George (ankle), Anthony Gill (hip), Malcolm Brogdon (ankle), Saddiq Bey (G-League), Corey Kispert (thumb), and Bilal Coulibaly (hamstring) will all be out. Marcus Smart is questionable with an illness.
The Game
Despite their records not reflecting it, both organizations have a nice crop of young talent, the Wizards a bit better. Alexander Sarr, the 19-year-old seven-footer, and Bilal Coulibaly, who’s even younger, lead the way, but he won’t be playing tonight.
A.J. Johnson, the half brother of Houston Rockets superstar Jalen Green, has also shown flashes of potential ever since he was traded from Milwaukee. In the last six games, he scored in double digits in three of the contests.
The Nets are not at that level. Indeed, they are in full evaluation mode as Jordi Fernandez has noted. In addition to the new additions to the team in Timme and Etienne, the roster is filled with players whose future remains uncertain. Timme is one of five young Nets with team options. Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams are all restricted free agents and of the three two-ways, only Tosan Evbuomwan is under contract for next year.
Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead are under contract next season, but they are being evaluated. Whitehead played well despite only getting 10 minutes. His first bucket came on an aggressive drive to the rim against former Net Ben Simmons, who is a great defender. His second basket came on a nice catch and shoot opportunity from downtown. These are the moments confidence and hope are built on.
As far as the game itself, there is not much to say at this point of the season other than both teams would like their lottery pick odds high.
Player to Watch
Despite not having the most efficient game, Alex Sarr has been playing pretty well of late. For the season, he’s averaging 13.1 points and close to seven rebounds a game with shooting splits of 40/33/65, but as the season has gone on, he’s improved and in March, he’s up to 17.2 and has had six games of 20 or more points and three each with 10 or more rebounds and four or more makes from deep.
The big Frenchman also starting to get some attention. Bill Simmons, in a re-draft of the Class of 2024 on his recent podcast, described Sarr as “Serge Ibaka with 3-point range.” And as the Washington Post’s Varun Shankar wrote this week, he’s improving in the one area where he’s not done that well: finishing.
While rookie big man Alex Sarr has perimeter skills that separate him from other centers, the Wizards’ No. 2 pick has struggled offensively where many of his peers thrive: inside.
Through the end of February, Sarr was shooting 69 percent at the rim, according to the analytics site Cleaning the Glass, in the 52nd percentile among big men. Since then, he is down to 53 percent, in the 11th percentile among big men. The March figure is based on just 62 shot attempts, a small sample size.
Sarr’s aggression is also evident in his shot selection. In March, 36 percent of his shots are coming at the rim, per Cleaning the Glass, up from 27 through the end of February. He also is driving substantially more, according to NBA.com.
Increasingly, it looks like the Stephon Castle will be the second straight rookie of the year from San Antonio, but Sarr is going to get a lot of votes. Not bad considering how in Summer League, he was seen as a bust by many fans and pundits when he went 0-of-15 in one game. Never ever trust Summer League.
From the Vault
The Nets lost 132-100 on Friday. On Thursday, the Wizards lost 162-109. Blowouts are like that, particularly at the end of the season. There was a time not that long ago when Brooklyn was on the other end of the scoreboard. Here’s a reminder from two seasons back when the Nets beat the Wiz by 42 in November 2022. Those were the days…
More reading: Bullets Forever and SBNation NBA.
- Brooklyn Nets Game Notes – Brooklyn Nets
- Washington Wizards Game Notes – Washington Wizards
- Nets, Wizards meet with NBA draft lottery looming – NBA
- Brooklyn takes on Washington on 6-game slide – AP
- Nets give two prospects a ‘dream come true’ chance in uncompetitive loss to Clippers – Brian Lewis – New York Post