Day’Ron Sharpe Eyes Bigger Role in Brooklyn Nets’ Frontcourt

Day’Ron Sharpe enters camp with a real opening in Brooklyn’s frontcourt. Nic Claxton is now in Chicago, and Sharpe, 24, finally has a chance to show he can hold a center rotation spot beyond the 18-to-20-minute role he has occupied for much of his career.

The Nets have been better with Sharpe on the floor than their overall record would suggest. Across the past three seasons, Brooklyn has outscored opponents by 0.4 points per 100 possessions during his minutes and has been outscored by 9.0 per 100 when he sits. The defensive split is especially sharp: opponents have scored 109.2 points per 100 possessions with Sharpe playing, compared with 117.1 without him.

There is context to that number, including the backup matchups Sharpe often faces, but the production has been steady. He is one of five NBA players to reach at least 750 minutes while averaging 15 points and 12 rebounds per 36 minutes in each of the last three seasons. With Claxton gone, the Nets can find out whether those minutes can translate to a bigger nightly assignment.

From the locker room

Brooklyn is trying to reverse a three-year slide after finishing 20-62 last season, 13th in the Eastern Conference and outside the postseason. The Nets have lost more games in each of those three years, though the roster has a different offensive shape now.

Julius Randle joins Michael Porter Jr. as the most established scoring tandem on the team. Randle is not Nikola Jokić as a passer, but his history of creating 3-point looks matters: over the last seven seasons, only Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić have recorded more assists on made 3-pointers.

That could be particularly useful for Porter. Only 9% of Porter’s 3-point attempts last season were classified as wide open, the lowest rate among 307 players with at least 100 attempts from deep. He had been wide open on 20% of his 3s with Denver in 2024-25. Kevin Durant ranked next-lowest last season at 15%.

The Nets badly need easier offense after finishing last in offensive efficiency by a margin of 1.5 points per 100 possessions. They were the NBA’s only team in the bottom five in all three major shooting areas: 55.3% in the paint, 37.1% from mid-range and 34.0% from 3-point range.

Randle, Porter and the returning young group will determine whether the club can climb, but a modest improvement does not automatically put Brooklyn into the playoff or Play-In race. The East has gotten deeper, and the Nets need meaningful growth from their young core to push into the postseason picture.

The organization used five first-round selections in the 2025 Draft, creating a cluster of second-year players now under the microscope. Egor Dëmin was the only one to receive All-Rookie consideration, collecting two second-team votes. Brooklyn does not need every prospect to make an immediate leap, but it needs more than one of them to move forward.

• Egor Dëmin: He has the foundation of a long-term starter, but the Nets need him to play with more size and physical presence.
• Nolan Traoré: His quickness can bend a defense, though he must become tougher with the ball.
• Drake Powell: The shooting has to arrive for his role to expand.

The offseason additions also include Tyler Bilodeau, Mikel Brown Jr., Keon Ellis, Joshua Jefferson and Moritz Wagner. Brown, selected sixth overall, will have an early measuring-stick matchup against Darius Acuff Jr., whom Sacramento chose one pick later.

Preseason will offer the first look at how Randle and Porter fit together, and whether Sharpe opens as the starting center against top-level opposing bigs. The bigger evaluation, though, remains the second-year group after its first full NBA season and summer of development.

Next tip

Brooklyn’s schedule supplies a handful of useful checkpoints, from the annual New York rivalry to Randle’s return to Minnesota and a late rookie comparison against Sacramento.