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WASHINGTON — Keita Bates-Diop will miss the rest of the season because of a stress fracture of the right tibia, the Nets announced on Wednesday.
The forward, who was acquired by the Nets at the Feb. 9 trade deadline, underwent a minor procedure on Wednesday morning to correct the issue. The team expects him to return to on-court activities in approximately one month.
Bates-Diop did not play in Brooklyn’s 96-88 defeat of the Toronto Raptors on Monday. Brooklyn has nine games left in the regular season following Wednesday’s matchup against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
“I’ll miss him,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “I’ll miss his voice. I’ll miss his spirit. Very cerebral basketball player with very high IQ. When he talks, all of our guys listen, so we want him back. I know he has to take care of a little minor surgery and hopefully we get him back into the flow here. He means a lot to our team.”
Bates-Diop averaged 1.6 points across 14 games in a Nets uniform while playing just 4.8 minutes a night. He averaged 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 43.4% from the field and 30.4% from deep in 53 total games this season with Brooklyn and Phoenix.
The 28-year-old becomes the third Nets player to be ruled out for the season, joining Ben Simmons (left lower back nerve impingement) and rookie Dariq Whitehead (left shin stress reaction). He has a 2.6 million player option next season.
REVOLVING DOOR
In addition to Bates-Diop, the Nets were also without Cam Johnson (left big toe sprain) and Dennis Smith Jr. (right hip synovitis) against the Wizards. Both missed their second straight game on Wednesday.
However, Cam Thomas returned to the starting lineup after missing Monday’s game against Toronto because of lower back tightness that reveled itself during warmups. He was not on a minutes restriction against Washington.
“I didn’t know until last time at game time,” Ollie said. “He was feeling better at shootaround and he was feeling good on the bus, so that’s a good thing.”
Nic Claxton apparently suffered a nasal fracture recently and was added to the NBA’s primary injury report, but Claxton did start against the Wizards and Ollie said his condition should not raise concern.
“I think it happened during that New York game [on Saturday], the Knicks game, I believe,” Ollie said. ”
ONLY SO MANY MINUTES
Injuries are ultimately what led to breakout games for Trendon Watford, Jalen Wilson and Noah Clowney against Toronto on Sunday. While they received more opportunities to shine against the Wizards with Johnson, Smith and Bates-Diop out, the reason why they are rarely featured prominently in the first place is because there are only so many minutes to go around when the Nets are fully healthy.
That is why it is imperative for them to make the most of their opportunities while they have the chance, because the politics of the league — until they earn their keep — will always prevent them from being consistently rewarded for their efforts.
And it can create a difficult position for any head coach.
“I don’t like to use the word hard,” Ollie said. “I think challenging is always a good word I use, but there’s always a championship opportunity in that. I like to convey and talk to them and hopefully, I do reward them when they play well… Everything about me is about winning and what I feel is going to give us the best chance to win that night is what I’m going to go with and it’s nothing personal.”
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