Mikel Brown Jr. is still being eased in, and the next step may be a night off. After opening the season on a minutes limit, the rookie guard is likely to sit out Sunday against Indiana as the Nets continue to manage his workload following a preseason ankle injury.
Brown has already been active in small bursts. He played 20 minutes off the bench in the team’s first game and then saw 20 more minutes in Saturday’s game at Cleveland, a sign that Brooklyn is introducing him gradually rather than turning him loose all at once.
Friday’s practice made the plan plain. Jordi Fernandez said the limits would remain in place for a while, pointing to Brown’s 21 games last season and saying he is not going to be asked to handle all 82 games this season. Fernandez added that Brown will eventually be able to play more and handle back-to-backs, but not right away.
That caution sits alongside genuine optimism about what Brown can become. Donovan Mitchell called him a player Nets fans should be excited about and said he is going to do amazing things in Brooklyn. Mitchell also said he has been talking with Brown the way he talks to James Harden, a hint at how seriously the veteran views the rookie’s development.
The push and pull is clear: the Nets see enough to be excited, but not enough to rush him. Brown is being prepared for a full NBA workload one step at a time, and the immediate result is a rotation decision that could keep him out Sunday while the longer limit remains undefined.
