It’ll be the Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney show in Vegas
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The show is on! The Nets will head to Las Vegas early next week with a 13-man roster that will feature Noah Clowney and Nets fans’ first real look at Dariq Whitehead. The Nets released their Summer League roster Friday and although there were some new names we haven’t heard before, the story of the Nets trip to Las Vegas next week will be about how their two teenagers, Noah Clowney and, even more so, Dariq Whitehead, perform not far from the famed Strip.
Here’s the roster and the schedule......
The team will be coached by Steve Hetzel, Jordi Fernandez’s lead assistant who’s previously had a head coaching gig with the Canton Charge of the G League as well as assistant coaching positions with the Pistons, Hornets, Magic and Trailblazers before joining the Nets. Fernandez is coaching Team Canada in the Olympics and is in Las Vegas where Team Canada will play Team USA in an exhibition game at Thomas & Mack next Wednesday.
Clowney and Whitehead were always going to be headliners in this year’s Summer League. They were selected back-to-back in the 2023 NBA Draft, the two youngest draft picks in franchise history. But their journeys have been quite different. Clowney shone in an end-of-season role after a solid season in the G League while Whitehead, troubled by foot injuries, didn’t play in Las Vegas last summer and was confined to a limited role on Long Island, playing in only 13 games before needing surgery for a shin reaction in late January. It was his third —on both legs — in 22 months.
Now, Whitehead has been cleared for play. As for playing the Nets have been conservative in talking about his return, saying only that he’ll be “a full participant in the Nets off-season development program,” Fans should finally get a good look at him.
The roster will also include Jalen Wilson, who surprised in Brooklyn last season and wound up with a three-year standard NBA contract, and three Nets two-ways, two of whom got minutes with the big club last year: Keon Johnson, 22, Jacob Gilyard. 25, and Jaylen Martin, only 20. KJ has played 82 NBA games in his career, Gilyard 41. In addition to the Nets own G Leaguers, 6’6” G League shooting guard Tyrese Martin will join Brooklyn. He has 16 NBA games under his belt and put up 46 points for the Iowa Wolves last season. He’s 25.
The Nets did not extend a qualifying offer to either Johnson or Gilyard. They’re basically trying out for a new contract with Brooklyn. Martin is on the second year of his two-year two-way deal. The Nets think highly of him as did the Knicks who signed him to two two-ways last year before waiving him in a roster management move. In addition, Long Island Nets center, 6’10” David Muoka, is on the roster. He’s a native of Hong Kong and played at UNLV.
Beyond that, the Nets, who didn’t have a pick in last month’s draft will be bringing in two undrafted free agents, as previously reported: Mark Armstrong, Villanova’s starting point guard at 6’2” and K.J. Jones II, a 6’6” wing who was Division II Player of the Year at Emmanuel University in Atlanta.
Noah Clowney, Dariq Whitehead highlight Nets’ NBA Summer League roster - Peter Botte - New York Post
Nets Summer League: Schedule, roster, players to watch ($) - C.J. Holmes - New York Daily News
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