Nic Claxton has been relegated to coming off the bench as he builds up his conditioning.
And while coach Jordi Fernandez won’t say when he’ll start the center again, it clearly won’t be until Claxton’s minutes restriction is eased.
A hamstring injury sidelined Claxton for the entire preseason, and the Nets performance team has put him on a strict minutes limit through their first two regular-season games.
Claxton logged just 15:25 off the bench in the opener before seeing that boosted to a solid 20:26 outing Friday in Orlando.
Granted, Claxton theoretically might’ve played more in the opener if he hadn’t gotten ejected in the fourth quarter for an ill-advised clothesline against the Hawks. But it does seem as if he could see his playing time increase in Sunday’s home opener against the Bucks.
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“We have to evaluate how his body feels. Then once that happens, then we can assess the next step,” Fernandez said. “My thought is, whenever we can, he’s gonna rest. Then his body’s gonna tell us how he’s doing. We can increase the minutes, obviously. … We want him to play starting minutes, but we have to be smart with it. Health is No. 1 for everybody, not just for Nic in minutes.”