G League Watch: Long Island Nets’ Regular Season Continues

The Long Island Nets' regular season rolled on since the last G League Watch, with Brooklyn's affiliate team picking up one win and two losses over the past 10 days. 

Long Island are now 3-4 in the regular season, and the team has shown legitimate improvement since a dismal Showcase Cup. That refers to the first half of the G League season, when the Nets went 2-14 and placed last in the East Division. Recently, Long Island dropped two games — to the College Park Shyhawks and the Indiana Mad Ants — but bounced back with a win against the Grand Rapids Gold. 

The Nets’ roster was shorthanded for that first loss against the Skyhawks, with Drew Timme and Killian Hayes unavailable. Even then, it was ultimately a one-point game. Keaton Wallace, who was called up to the NBA by the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 15 and scored a career-high 27 points on that day, was the main culprit for the Nets' defeat.

Timme and Hayes returned for the game against the Mad Ants, but the Nets fell 124-108 in a more handy loss. The former finished with 20 points, albeit on an inefficient 9-of-25 shooting night. The French point guard grazed a triple-double with 18 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Kendall Brown was Long Island's best performer on the night, with 27 points on 11-of-15 from the field in 42 minutes. 

Long Island picked up its third win of the regular season on Jan. 14, blowing out the Grand Rapids Gold 108-94. The Nets also beat the Denver Nuggets' affiliate on Jan. 3. This latest victory also marked a bounce-back for Timme, who was much better with a 24-point, 13-rebound double-double. Brown, again, paced the Nets in minutes played with 42. Tyson Etienne and Trevon Scott pitched in with 22 and 17 points, respectively. 

In the latest G League-related news for the Nets, Brooklyn assigned Dariq Whitehead to Long Island on Thursday. The 20-year-old swingman has played in 14 games for Long Island so far this season, averaging 12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 35.1% shooting from the field. 

Whitehead has only featured in seven of Brooklyn's games this year. He is averaging 3.4 points in 5.9 minutes per game in his second NBA season. Besides a 24-minute outing against the Chicago Bulls on Dec. 2, Whitehead's game time has largely been limited to one- or two-minute stretches in garbage time. 

Up next, Long Island is in action against the Maine Celtics on Sunday. Boston’s developmental team, led by former five-star recruit JD Davison and 2024 first-round pick Baylor Scheierman, is 6-5 in the G League regular season.