The Nets Are Starting a Lineup That Looks Like a 2K Auto-Generate Glitch
Underdog NBA reported the lineup alert on X.
The have officially submitted a starting lineup for Friday night that looks less like a cohesive basketball unit and more like a random name generator glitching out in NBA 2K.
According to Underdog NBA, Brooklyn is rolling out Amadou Traore, Chaney Johnson, Otto Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and Day'Ron Sharpe. Yes, that is a real starting five in a professional basketball game, and it is exactly the kind of chaotic roster shuffle that makes the NBA regular season so deeply unserious.
You can hardly blame head coach Jordi Fernández for throwing things at the wall. The Nets are currently riding a three-game losing streak where defense has been entirely optional. They just gave up 125 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers, got blown off the floor 136-109 by the Indiana Pacers, and dropped a 125-124 heartbreaker to the Boston Celtics. When you are bleeding points like a busted pipe, conventional wisdom goes out the window.
But this specific group is a masterpiece of weirdness. You have Julius Randle and Day'Ron Sharpe clogging the paint, Otto Porter Jr. dusting off his veteran legs, and Chaney Johnson stepping into the spotlight. It is the kind of jumbo-sized, spacing-allergic rotation that sounds like it was drawn up by someone who thinks the three-point line is a passing fad.
For anyone holding a ticket on this game, this lineup drop is pure chaos. Trying to project usage rates or player props for a rotation this bizarre is basically a coin flip. The sportsbooks are probably scrambling to adjust the rebounding totals as we speak, because this frontcourt is going to do nothing but crash the glass and create traffic jams in the lane.
We will find out exactly how this supersized experiment looks when they tip off against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. If it works, maybe the Nets have accidentally stumbled into a new era of bully ball. If it fails, they can just shuffle the deck again before they travel to Indiana for a rematch with the Pacers on Sunday.