Jacque Vaughn Reveals Who's In and Who's Out in Nets Back-To-Back

The Brooklyn Nets will take a cautious approach with several players in this weekend's back-to-back.

The Brooklyn Nets will head to Indiana to play the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night. For the second game of this weekend's back-to-back, the team will hold a cautious approach with several players coming off injuries. 

Ben Simmons will return on Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks but the Nets' head coach Jacque Vaughn has already ruled the point-forward out against the Pacers. Simmons will be under a minutes restriction of around 20 minutes vs. Atlanta. He has missed the last four games with a left lateral calf contusion. 

“It's probably in the 20-ish range. Not a concrete number from performance. But we'll be smart about his stance for sure," said Vaughn on Simmons' workload in his return. "In all honesty, very safe to say that he plays tonight, he won’t play tomorrow."  

The team will welcome back injured wing Yuta Watanabe in Indiana on Saturday night. Watanabe, who will miss his 10th straight game against the Hawks on Friday, will likely be under a minutes restriction when he takes the court. 

The biggest question heading into the matchup against Indiana is whether the Nets will pencil in Kevin Durant for a needed rest day. Although the team has trimmed down on practices and shootarounds in the last week to provide their 34-year-old superstar some behind-the-scenes rest, Vaughn didn't commit to playing or resting the league's leader in total minutes played (958 minutes). 

"I think we want to take this thing game-by-game, but I think we do have to be smart about what it looks like in the future. We don't have another back-to-back until January 19th, I believe. Our schedule is kinder to us after we get through this next back-to-back. Got Washington, three days in between. So whether we play some guys tomorrow, not tomorrow, acute injuries after the game, none of that you can foresee until we get through today's game."

The team scratched big Nic Claxton for Friday's game against the Hawks due to right hamstring tightness. The Nets head coach doesn't believe Claxton's injury will be a long-term thing and there is no MRI currently scheduled. 

“I don't think its long term," said Vaughn on Claxton's hamstring tightness. "Like he's not scheduled to get an MRI or anything of that nature. So just some awareness that he's reported, some tightness that he reported when he got here today. So we're just going to be cautious with it.”  

The Nets will very likely be without wing T.J. Warren for the second game of the weekend back-to-back. Brooklyn recently recalled both Kessler Edwards and Day'Ron Sharpe from their NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. Both players are expected to remain with Brooklyn throughout the back-to-back.