Opportunities abound when Nets take on Raptors

Already eliminated from postseason consideration, the Brooklyn Nets and visiting Toronto Raptors will continue to take a peek at the future when the teams face each other Sunday afternoon.

The Nets (25-52) enter the final week of the regular season with a nine-percent chance of winning the NBA draft lottery. Brooklyn also has three other first-round picks outside of the lottery from previous trades with the Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks.

Brooklyn is finishing its fifth 50-loss season since moving from New Jersey following the 2011-12 season.

The Nets are 16-42 after getting off to a 9-10 start with a roster that featured veterans Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schroder. They were eventually traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, respectively.

The Nets acquired D’Angelo Russell in the deal for Finney-Smith but on Thursday, they played the guard for 12 minutes in a 105-90 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Russell did not score as he played on a sore right ankle and his availability for Sunday remains undecided.

“No. 1 is to get a look at these younger guys during an important part of the game, where you can see how they handle it, but yeah he’s been dealing with the ankle and just trying to be smart with that,” Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernandez said.

On Thursday, the Nets used their 39th different starting lineup when Maxwell Lewis made his first NBA start. Lewis was also acquired with Russell from the Lakers and was the starting lineup with Nic Claxton, whose 18 points equaled the center’s fourth-highest total this season.

Claxton’s output came on a night when younger players such as Dariq Whitehead (17 points) and Tosan Evbuomwan (13 points) contributed.

Cameron Johnson (back) also did not play Thursday and has missed four of the past eight games. Without Johnson, Trendon Watford made his first start this season and combined with Lewis to score 21 points, as the Nets shot 42.7 percent from the floor and were held under 100 points for the 24th time.

Toronto (28-50) enters with a 7.5 percent chance of winning the lottery and returns to Brooklyn after rolling to a wire-to-wire 116-86 rout against the Nets on March 26.

The Raptors, who hold their own first-round pick, are hoping for a massive turnaround next season, especially after acquiring Brandon Ingram and signing the veteran to a three-year, $120 million contract following his arrival from the New Orleans Pelicans.

“There are a lot of reasons that go into that (but) we’re hoping that we can continue developing our players, that they’re going to make a jump next season and they’re going to really use this summer the right way,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic told reporters. “With the addition of Brandon Ingram on our team, we’re really hopeful the next year is going to be the start of something really special for us.”

Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett were in the starting lineup for their last encounter with the Nets but neither played in Friday’s 117-105 home loss to the Detroit Pistons. Barnes sat out with a hand injury after he shot 27 of 81 (33.3 percent) over his previous six games, while Barrett rested for the fourth time in eight games.

Toronto’s Orlando Robinson dominated the previous meeting at Brooklyn by totaling 23 and 12 rebounds when he started in place of Jakob Poeltl

The Raptors’ Ja’Kobe Walter, who began a run of six consecutive starts the last meeting, scored 22 points Friday, marking the eighth time in his past nine games the rookie reached double figures.

–Field Level Media