The Nets saw their entire starting backcourt forced out of Tuesday’s game in Boston with physical ailments, but neither appears to be overly serious.
Egor Dëmin left in the second quarter with a right leg contusion, while Nolan Traore asked out of his first start of the season with cramping.
“I’ll be good,” Dëmin said. “It’s nothing serious, so I’ll be ready to go.”
The Nets practice Thursday and don’t have to file an injury designation for either player until later that afternoon. They’ll host the Pistons on Friday.
Dëmin was unsure if he’d require any further examination or suit up vs. Detroit.
“I have no idea,” Dëmin said. “Right now I have no idea. Whatever is going to be needed to be checked or whatever it is, I have no idea. I’m just working here.”
The young Russian was forced off the floor with two minutes left in the first half. He knocked legs while defending Paul George and came up gimpy on the Nets’ ensuing possession. Dëmin limped off the court and into the locker room.
“Yeah, when he was driving by me, end up hitting each other’s legs,” Dëmin said.
“I just got hit and I got kneed in a muscle bone area, a little funny, like an elbow, like a tiny spot. Yeah, I thought, I don’t know how many times I got hit in there before. So I was fine. But then obviously had to get out. Now it feels better than right [then], so I think I’ll be ready in a couple of days.”
After losing Dëmin in the second quarter, the Nets lost the other half of their backcourt in the fourth.
Traore had come off the bench for the first three games of the season. After a 17-point, five-assist performance against the Pacers, he got rewarded with the start in Boston.
The French point guard burst out of the gate and spotted the Nets an early lead. He scored nine first-quarter points on 4-of-4 shooting, getting downhill and beating Jayson Tatum and Paul George on drives.
But Traore eventually called for a sub die to cramping. It’s an issue he suffered from last season as a rookie.
Traore left for good 1:23 into the fourth, finishing with 15 points and three assists on 6-of-9 shooting, 1-of-2 from deep.
“Yeah, he was cramping; and then I felt like he was not moving well,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “And as you guys know, Nolan is a guy that has great energy, can touch the paint anytime. And just for that reason, I felt like I didn’t want to change anything. And I know he wanted to because he wanted to battle through it, but I almost just felt like I had to save him for myself.”
