Day’Ron Sharpe is now officially back with the Brooklyn Nets.
On Wednesday, the Nets announced that Sharpe had signed the two-year contract sheet he agreed to on the opening day of NBA free agency. Sharpe, 23, was drafted by Brooklyn in the second round of the 2021 NBA draft and has served as the franchise’s backup to Nic Claxton for the better part of two seasons—a responsibility that is expected to continue into the 2025-26 campaign.
Sharpe is renowned as an incredibly gritty, fantastic rebounder. He proved to be a pretty efficient scorer behind Claxton off the bench last season and was an absolute menace on the defensive end. Brooklyn’s opponents scored 6.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when Sharpe was on the floor last season, which was the eighth-best among qualifying players (600 minutes), per CleaningTheGlass.
It’s fair to say Sharpe was one of the most valuable backup bigs in the league last season, but what should we expect of him this season?
To start, he showed a much stronger willingness to let it fly from beyond the arc last year than in any other. This is likely a point of emphasis from head coach Jordi Fernandez, as adding a three-point layer to Sharpe’s game would do wonders for his development. He’d evolve into more of an overall offensive threat, creating a more two-way-minded player overall.
And if he does improve on his stroke from beyond the arc, that’d give Fernandez even more flexibility with his lineups. For everything that Sharpe does well, he is undersized at 6-foot-9. At least for a center. That said, he’d be somewhat oversized as a power forward, which is a position he’d be able to play if he can become a floor stretcher.
Imagine a just-as-dominant, just-as-defensively-sound, just-as-high-intensity, yet improved-shooting version of Sharpe, who can play next to Claxton at the same time. The only problem Fernandez may have with that is it would strip him of some center depth, but that’s what Drew Timme, Danny Wolf and Fanbo Zeng are for.
The continued improvement of Sharpe could sneakily be one of the most critical keys to Brooklyn’s long-term—and short-term—success, mainly due to his extremely cheap price tag. He absolutely has the potential to become a complete player, and a highly valuable one at that. Think: the Nets’ own unique version of Naz Reid.
Sharpe obviously has to put the work in to get to this hypothetical stage of his career, but he certainly has the ability to do so.