Day’Ron Sharpe is giving the Nets something they can build around at center, and it starts with his passing.
When Michael Porter Jr. comes off Sharpe on a handoff, Brooklyn suddenly has choices to make. If the defense gets hung up on Sharpe’s screen, Porter can step into a 3.
If the defender chases Porter out toward the perimeter, a cutter can slip into the space behind it. Sharpe is the one sorting through that traffic and deciding where the ball goes.
That’s becoming a much bigger part of his role. After Brooklyn traded Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls in July, Sharpe moved into the starting lineup, and his playmaking has given the Nets another way to generate offense. It has also strengthened his case to keep the job as the roster continues to take shape.
The numbers have come with some fluctuation. Sharpe handed out six assists across his first five games, then followed that with 39 assists against 13 turnovers over his next six. His playing time only ticked up by about 2.5 minutes per night, but the responsibility has clearly grown.
Against the Atlanta Hawks last Saturday, Porter was the biggest beneficiary. Sharpe found him for a layup on a cut with 4:17 left in the second quarter, then hit him again 33 seconds later for a 3-pointer. Of Porter’s eight made baskets, six came directly off Sharpe assists - four layups and two 3s.
Afterward, Sharpe told YES Network’s Meghan Triplett that Porter’s gravity created the openings. The defense’s attention on Porter opened up backdoor cuts, and Sharpe was able to spot them. That’s the value Brooklyn is getting: even when Porter never touches the ball, his shooting still bends the defense enough to create a basket.
Sharpe had already said in July that he wanted to prove he could be “a passing hub on DHOs, pick-and-rolls, stuff like that.”
That vision showed up again in Atlanta. Julius Randle got a first-quarter dunk off a Sharpe pass in transition, and by halftime Sharpe had piled up eight assists, matching his career high set three nights earlier against the Charlotte Hornets.
Then came the milestone. With 2:13 left, Mikel Brown Jr. buried a 3-pointer off Sharpe’s feed for Sharpe’s 13th assist, a franchise record for a center. Brooklyn led by four at that point, and Sharpe went on to finish with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his first career triple-double in the 124-121 loss.
That kind of passing matters even more because of who Sharpe is doing it from. Brooklyn needs him to rebound and protect the rim, too, and that combination gives the team a different kind of center value.
For the young guards around him, it changes the shape of the offense. Brown and Nolan Traoré can put the ball into Sharpe’s hands, move off him and get it back with a defender already in pursuit.
That lets them attack on the move instead of having to manufacture everything off the dribble.
Egor Dëmin got a taste of that Wednesday against the New Orleans Pelicans, scoring a layup off a Sharpe pass and then knocking down a 3-pointer on Brooklyn’s first possession of the third quarter. That 3 gave Sharpe at least five assists in four straight games.
The same game showed the other side of Sharpe’s impact. He blocked two Zion Williamson drives in 74 seconds, with the second one officially credited after head coach Jordi Fernández successfully challenged a shooting foul.
Early in the third quarter, Sharpe blocked Herbert Jones, then swatted Williamson again in transition. In the next 75 seconds, Porter and Danny Wolf each found Sharpe for a 3-pointer.
Sharpe finished with 15 points, five assists and four blocks in 19 minutes of Brooklyn’s 145-111 win, matching his career high in blocks.
The real question now is how defenses start adjusting. If teams switch a handoff, they can take away Porter’s jumper and leave Sharpe with a smaller defender.
Brooklyn’s answer is to get the ball back to him before help arrives and turn that switch into a chance at the rim. The read has to be quick, and the pass has to come just as fast.
Brooklyn re-signed Sharpe in July for two years and $20 million, with a $10 million team option for 2027-28. Even if the Nets pick up that option, he can still reach unrestricted free agency in 2028 at 26.
If Sharpe keeps combining passing, rebounding and rim protection like this, he makes himself awfully hard to replace at that price.
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