Nets play without forward Johnson because of an ankle injury

CHICAGO (AP) — The depleted Brooklyn Nets played without key forward Cam Johnson on Monday night against the Chicago Bulls.

Johnson was sidelined by a sprained left ankle. He scored 26 points in Brooklyn's 100-92 loss to Orlando on Sunday.

The 6-foot-8 Johnson is off to a strong start this season, averaging a career-high 18.1 points in 21 games.

“I'm not extremely concerned. ... Right now, he's a day to day,” coach Jordi Fernandez said before Brooklyn's 128-102 loss at Chicago. “He wanted to try to see how he was feeling, and he's out like you said. We'll see how he feels tomorrow and then we'll go from there.”

The Nets have been hit hard by injuries. Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain), Ben Simmons (lower back and left knee), Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot), Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle), Ziaire Williams (left knee) and Noah Clowney (left ankle) also were sidelined for the loss to the Bulls.

“We’re in a situation where we have, like, new lineups almost every game, right?” Fernandez said. “Those type of injuries, especially the ones that you cannot control, the sprained ankles or the knees, somebody flying into your knee, they just force us to have the next-man mentality.”

Brooklyn (9-13) did get one player back against Chicago. Day'Ron Sharpe made his season debut after being sidelined by a hamstring strain. He had four points and two rebounds in 16 minutes.

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