{"id":181430,"date":"2026-03-13T23:35:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=181430"},"modified":"2026-03-13T23:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:39:12","slug":"why-the-nets-didnt-re-sign-7-foot-rookie-despite-impressing-coaching-staff-and-who-is-filling-open-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/13\/why-the-nets-didnt-re-sign-7-foot-rookie-despite-impressing-coaching-staff-and-who-is-filling-open-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The Nets Didn’t Re-Sign 7-Foot Rookie Despite Impressing Coaching Staff, And Who Is Filling Open Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brooklyn Nets<\/a> are likely in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’, preparing for their Saturday afternoon affair with the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/a> The Nets, who have been officially eliminated from the NBA playoffs, will look to tie their season series with the depleted 76ers. The Nets will also be shorthanded with at least four players sidelined.<\/p>\n

Why The Nets Didn’t Re-Sign 7-Foot Rookie Despite Impressing Coaching Staff, And Who Is Filling Open Spot<\/h2>\n

Brooklyn (17-49) enters tomorrow’s contest having lost 11 of its last 13, including two straight. The Nets fell to the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> 108- 97 on Thursday night, ending any chance of them playing more than 82 games. That was not their goal anyway. With the loss to the Hawks, the Nets fell to 16.5 games behind the 10th-place Charlotte Hornets<\/a> with 16 games remaining. They join the Washington Wizards<\/a>, Indiana Pacers<\/a>, and Sacramento Kings<\/a> as teams currently eliminated.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn won’t have Egor Demin<\/a> and Day’Ron Sharpe<\/a>, who have both been ruled out for the season. Nic Claxton<\/a> (rest) and Drake Powell<\/a> (left knee management) are also sitting out the Sixers game, per ClutchPoints Erik Slater<\/a>. Slated added that Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> (Right Ankle Sprain) is doubtful and Ochai Agbaji<\/a> (Left Ankle Soreness) is probable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Nic Claxton (Rest) and Drake Powell (Left Knee Injury Management) are OUT for the Nets tomorrow at Philadelphia, Slater tweeted. “Michael Porter Jr. (Right Ankle Sprain) is doubtful. Ochai Agbaji (Left Ankle Soreness) is probable.”<\/span><\/p>\n

With five players, including Porter Jr., sitting out for the Nets, Brooklyn has 12 available players. The Nets had an open spot heading into the day, but according to Michael Sotto of HoopsHype, Malachi Smith<\/a> will fill that hole. Sotto said that Smith and the Nets have agreed to a 10-day deal.<\/p>\n

“The Brooklyn Nets and Malachi Smith have agreed to a 10-day deal, league sources told <\/span>@hoopshype,<\/a>” Sotto tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith’s deal is not completed. But if it becomes official on Saturday, he will be eligible to appear in six games during this short tryout.\u00a0 After the Sixers game, the Nets host Portland, OKC, and New York. They then hit the road for back-to-back affairs in Sacramento and Portland on March 22 and 23.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Dale Zanine<\/a>, Imagn Images<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/h3>\n

Who is Malachi Smith, and what does he bring to the Nets?<\/h3>\n

Smith is in his third year of professional basketball after going undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2023. The 26-year-old, who was part of Portland’s training camp in 2023-24, has spent his entire career in the G-League. He began with the Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers) and also had stints with the Wisconsin Herd (Milwaukee) and the Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies).<\/p>\n

Brooklyn, via the Nets’ G League affiliate, Long Island, acquired Smith from Memphis this past fall. Smith has improved in each of his seasons in the G-League and was having a career season with Long Island. The 6-4 combo guard averaged 14.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in 29 minutes over 39 appearances. He averaged 1.3 threes with shooting splits of 52.4\/42.6\/76.9.<\/p>\n

However, Smith upped his production after Long Island coach Mfon Udofia handed him the keys to run the point following Nolan Traore’s call-up to Brooklyn. In 18 starts, Smith totaled 19.6 points, 7.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 53.6% from the field and 48.3% from deep.\u00a0 He also tallied 16 double figures in 16 of his last 17 appearances and produced all five of his double-doubles during this stretch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith intrigued the Nets with his shooting, decision-making, and size, according to SB Nation.<\/a> Smith is an elite shooter off the catch, connecting on nearly 40% of his three-pointers for his G-League career. He has improved as a creator and has shown great feel in pick-and-rolls. In addition, he can defend both guard spots.<\/p>\n

Smith will make n\u00a0<\/span>$73,153 over the duration of his 10-day deal. He takes the spot vacated by Grant Nelson<\/a>, who has not been retained after his 10-day contract expired last Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/h3>\n

Grant Nelson Won’t Play The Rest Of Season<\/h3>\n

Nelson, who went undrafted in this year’s draft, averaged 4.3 points. 1.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in just nine minutes of action in four games for the Net<\/a>s. However, he impressed coach Jordi Fernandez<\/a> enough that it was thought he would get at least another 10-day deal.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He\u2019s] a very good basketball player. Everything he does, he does it well,\u201d Fernandez said about Nelson<\/a>. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t over-dribble or try to do too much. Everything is efficient. His size is great. He\u2019s a multi-positional defender, a very good playmaker, and fast. All of those things have been very good. It translates to this level. Obviously, right now we have one more game, and then after that we\u2019ll have to discuss and see what the next move going forward is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nelson has returned to the Long Island Nets, where he played before getting promoted. But Brian Lewis of the New York Pos<\/a>t said the 7-footer won’t play again this season, as he is dealing with patellar tendinitis, or jumper’s knee. Lewis added that Nelson’s injury is likely due to the Nets not offering him another contract.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been dealing with knee soreness for I don\u2019t know how many years, really, since I started college. It was kind of just affecting how I was playing, so I had to get it over with, get all the rehab done, and get back to feeling 100%. The performance staff here did a great job. Everyone really cares about me, and that meant a lot,\u201d Nelson told NetsDaily.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brooklyn Nets are likely in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’, preparing for their Saturday afternoon affair with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets, who have been officially eliminated from the NBA playoffs, will look to tie their season series with the depleted 76ers. The Nets will also be shorthanded with at least four players sidelined. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":181549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,2,62,3,13],"tags":[4390,49834,2659,4889,49161,1223,1332,4745],"class_list":["post-181430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-76ers","tag-dayron-sharpe","tag-egor-demin","tag-g-league-callups","tag-grant-nelson","tag-jordi-fernandez","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-nba-g-league","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181430"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181548,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181430\/revisions\/181548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}