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It has been a tough season for the Brooklyn Nets and on Monday evening it got even worse. Brooklyn’s exciting, promising rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has a non-displaced fracture in his right ankle which will require surgery. Hollis-Jefferson is out indefinitely and Bojan Bogdanovic will take his spot in the starting lineup.
In 19 games this season, Hollis-Jefferson averaged 5.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Hollis-Jefferson’s 1.4 steals per game is the most by any rookie in the NBA, and Brooklyn is certainly going to miss his defensive presence. He has been one of the few bright spots on a below-average Nets team.
Bogdanovic, who will serve as Hollis-Jefferson’s replacement in the starting lineup, has had a horrific season thus far. He is averaging 8.1 points while shooting 29 percent from three-point range in 24 minutes per game. Bogdanovic started for Brooklyn last season, but he is nowhere near as impactful on the defensive side of the ball as Hollis-Jefferson.
Hollis-Jefferson has been Brooklyn’s best defensive player this year, and he has been one of the only reasons for Nets fans to watch games this season. Losing him for an extended period of time will only make the Nets worse. Brooklyn appears to be destined for a bottom five finish this season which will give the Boston Celtics their lottery pick. Not much has gone right, and Nets fans are counting down the games until this nightmare of a season is over.
The Eastern Conference has been better than anybody expected this year which makes Brooklyn’s odds of making a run towards a playoff spot even more impossible. It’s a dark time for the Nets, and losing a player like Hollis-Jefferson for an extended period makes this season even harder to endure.
