Brooklyn Nets guards Egor Dëmin and Nolan Traore are expected to avoid serious injury after both left Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics with physical concerns. Dëmin departed in the second quarter with a right leg contusion, while Traore, making his first start of the season, asked to be substituted out due to cramping.
"I'll be good," Dëmin stated. "It's nothing serious, so I'll be ready to go."
Dëmin was injured in the second quarter when he collided legs with an opponent while defending. He limped off the court and into the locker room. "Yeah, when he was driving by me, end up hitting each other’s legs," Dëmin explained. "I just got hit and I got kneed in a muscle bone area, a little funny, like an elbow, like a tiny spot. Yeah, I thought, I don’t know how many times I got hit in there before. So I was fine. But then obviously had to get out. Now it feels better than right [then], so I think I’ll be ready in a couple of days."
Traore, who had been coming off the bench for the first three games of the season, scored nine points in the first quarter of the Boston game on perfect shooting. However, he began to experience cramping, an issue he also dealt with as a rookie last season. He finished the game with 15 points and three assists in 30 minutes of play.
"Yeah, he was cramping; and then I felt like he was not moving well," head coach Jordi Fernández said. "And as you guys know, Nolan is a guy that has great energy, can touch the paint anytime. And just for that reason, I felt like I didn’t want to change anything. And I know he wanted to because he wanted to battle through it, but I almost just felt like I had to save him for myself."
The Nets have a practice scheduled for Thursday and will not need to file an official injury designation for either player until later that afternoon. The team is set to host the Detroit Pistons on Friday.