How the Brooklyn Nets’ Guards Can Get the Most From the G League

Dariq Whitehead will be the name to watch on Long Island.

Nov 25, 2023; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets prospect Dariq Whitehead (0) during his NBA debut in the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images

Brooklyn Nets fans should keep their eyes on Long Island this season. 

The Nets will be one of the youngest teams in the NBA this upcoming season. The organization is engaged in a full rebuild and, apparently, correctly prioritizing developmental reps and “buy low” opportunities. For some players, that playing time used to improve will come in the G League.

Brooklyn has not shied away from using its Long Island affiliate and, until now, the results have been largely effective. Noah Clowney and Jalen Wilson were the main benefactors of this strategy last year. Both prospects were continuously assigned to the Long Island Nets and, now, look poised to play some sort of role in Brooklyn’s NBA rotation this upcoming season.

Clowney, in particular, suited up for Long Island fairly often. The former Alabama big suited up in the G League in 19 games, averaging 17.5 points to go with a team-leading 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. By the turn of 2023 to 2024, Clowney was featuring for the Nets’ main team in the NBA fairly regularly.

Long Island only had Wilson for 11 games, but that was enough for the former Kansas standout to turn some heads. Wilson racked up points, rebounds and assists in the G League with an ease that ultimately made NBA minutes far more valuable when it came to his development. Of course, the caveat is that the 6-foot-6 wing arrived in the NBA with four seasons of college basketball under his belt and turned 23 years old shortly after his rookie year began.

For the 2024-25 G League campaign, the name to monitor is Dariq Whitehead. The former five-star recruit has had a truly difficult time with injuries going back to when he was at Duke; however, Brooklyn was always ready to take a long-term view with Whitehead. 

Last season, Whitehead played in four games for Long Island and two games for Brooklyn — not enough to come to any conclusions. His anticipated Summer League return was a step in the right direction, although Whitehead was naturally extremely rusty. He averaged only five points per game on 14.6% shooting from the field.

This upcoming year, expect Whitehead to be assigned to the G League, at least initially, almost as much as Clowney was as a rookie. For all intents and purposes, Whitehead is basically still a rookie on the court who badly needs playing time to recoup his groove and confidence. At his best, the New Jersey native is a dynamic scorer with strong positional size who can pull-up, attack the basket, fly high and also facilitate for others.

The Nets have now waived Tyson Etienne.

This is going to happen a lot over the next month or so. These moves are designed to get guys to the G League affiliates. https://t.co/JZQJmQ8u3D

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 11, 2024

The Nets’ latest organizational roster move was signing and rapidly waiving Tyson Etienne. The 6-foot-2 guard has ties to the island, having played at Long Island Lutheran as a high schooler. Etienne went undrafted in 2022 and played his last two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks' College Park affiliate.

Killian Hayes reportedly signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Brooklyn earlier this summer, although this item has not yet been made official by the team. Exhibit 10 contracts typically serve to incentivize players to remain with a team's G League affiliate after training camp, meaning that there’s a solid chance Hayes could remain stateside and potentially pop up in some Brooklyn games rather than returning overseas.

Hayes, a former no. 7 pick, has not enjoyed the NBA career many envisioned when he was drafted in 2020. For most of his NBA life, the results on the court have been objectively rough. That said, Hayes showed signs of life as a playmaker and, to a small extent, as a shooter over the last two seasons. The Detroit Pistons have not been a favorable context for most players recently, so a change of air could prove helpful for the French guard.

Mark Armstrong, the former Villanova prospect who played in the Summer League for Brooklyn, is worth monitoring. Armstrong has some pedigree as a four-star high school recruit who played an important role in two youth tournaments for Team USA at the under-18 and under-19 levels. His two seasons at Villanova were not overly convincing, but evaluating the 20-year-old guard cannot hurt.

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