Nets Notes: Young, Sharpe, Claxton, Williams

The Nets were reportedly among the teams said to appeal to Trae Young before he was officially traded to the Wizards. While Brooklyn didn’t reciprocate that interest, it’s a positive sign for the team that a four-time All-Star like Young was intrigued by the possibility of joining the Nets in the middle of their rebuild, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

As Lewis observes, there were some rumblings about how attractive the Nets would be viewed by star players after the “big three” of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden all left Brooklyn. Mikal Bridges‘ exit to the crosstown rival Knicks only amplified those rumors, but evidently none of those factors deterred Young.

Here’s more on the Nets:

• Backup center Day’Ron Sharpe made the most of his opportunities as a starter over the past three games with Nic Claxton missing the first two contests due to personal reasons, per C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News. Although the Nets came up short in Wednesday’s overtime loss to Orlando, Sharpe did many of the little things that contribute to winning, including a key offensive rebound at the end of regulation that directly led to an Egor Demin game-tying three. “Yeah, he’s been fighting,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Played really hard, helped us make winning plays. Everybody remembers the shot, but that rebound for the kick out was amazing. So, also proud of him, and I think his minutes have been valuable and his growth has been out there, so I’m very happy to see that.”
• As Holmes writes in another story Sharpe could cut into Claxton’s minutes due to his impressive play, but Fernandez views that as a good problem for the Nets. “I think it’s very good because they’ve both been part of us getting better, and they’re both a big part of why our defense has been very good for a big stretch,” Fernandez said. “When both Nic and Day’Ron have good games defensively, we’re very good as a team defensively.” As expected, Claxton will return to the starting five on Friday vs. Los Angeles, tweets Lewis.
• Forward Ziaire Williams was a DNP-CD for the final two games of 2025, but he has played some of his best basketball of the season since the calendar flipped to 2026, according to Howie Kustoy of The New York Post. Fernandez wants the former lottery pick to be a consistent difference-maker on the defensive end. “He’s just a great positive energy to have around,” Fernandez said. “He shows up and works every day with a smile on his face. He competes at a high level. He’s about the right things. He’s very young. He’s improved in many things and he gives us that intensity defensively to change games. All those things mean a lot to us as a group. This is the Ziaire that we want, that we need, that we want him to sustain and we want him to get better.”