As a busy Nets offseason that will be heavy on rebuilding nears, the front office will be tasked with deciding which young players look promising and could be potential building blocks going forward.
With a 14-point performance off the bench in the 119-114 win over the Pelicans on Tuesday that included four consecutive 3-pointers in the second quarter, Dariq Whitehead is showing he could be one of those young building blocks.
The 20-year-old Duke product — who was the No. 22 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft — has endured nearly two lost seasons to start his NBA career with several injuries, including a stress reaction on his left shin that required season-ending surgery his rookie year.
Whitehead also underwent surgeries on his right foot before and after his lone season as a Blue Devil.
He has only played in 17 NBA games and 21 G-League contests this season.
Yet, with three games remaining in the regular season for the Nets, Whitehead told reporters he feels about 90 percent of the way back to how he felt going into his freshman year at Duke before the various injuries.
“I feel it coming,” Whitehead said after the win on Tuesday. “I will say it’s night and day from just trusting my body and stuff. Doing things I haven’t done in two years, which is amazing for me and I’m sure it’s amazing for the coaches and staff to see.”
To get to this point, the New Jersey native worked on getting his body back in shape in Long Island.
After reestablishing the fundamentals, he worked on his handle and being able to beat opponents off the dribble — things he said he wouldn’t be able to do when brought up to Brooklyn.
Whitehead has shot significantly better in the NBA despite the small sample size.
He is making 44 percent of his shots from 3-point range with the Nets this season, and is 37 percent with G-League Long Island.
“Up here, coach [Jordi Fernández] is very out loud with what he wants — shoot 3s, play a lot of defense,” Whitehead said of the difference between Brooklyn and Long Island. “He wants like 55, 50 3s a game. So, for me, when I hear that, going out there, any shot that’s a good shot I’m gonna take it.”
On Tuesday, the small forward went 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and also had two assists and two steals.
“He’s done a great job of just letting it fly,” Fernández said. “He works. He works with the coaches, [assistant coach] Travis [Bader] does a great job with him and just trusting the work that he puts in will show up in the game. Right now, he’s been shooting very well. With Long Island, it’s been equally great and those shots and those minutes are valuable and these shots and these minutes are very valuable too.”
The Nets are searching for foundational players to keep, develop, and hopefully produce in what they hope will be a renewed season in 2025-26.
To be a contributor, Whitehead understands he needs to push his body to get into the best shape possible and take everything into account that Fernández addresses at exit interviews.
“This is going to be an important summer for me,” Whitehead said. “Since I’ve been hurt, I haven’t been able to just work on those things, which is getting my athleticism back and just doing certain movements. Just me attacking this summer is going to be really important for me.”
Having played limited minutes in both leagues, Whitehead has seen flashes of what could have been in his young career.
It has forced him to develop a new mindset around the game to not take anything for granted.
His new outlook and spirit plan to make the most of his chance at cracking the Nets this summer.
“It can all change at the snap of a finger,” Whitehead said. “There’s a lot of people in this world that could’ve had my spot and had this place in the NBA. So, I try to remember that each and every day.”