Nets hold rookie Mikel Brown Jr. out of Sunday’s game against the Pacers as his left ankle stays on a minutes plan

Mikel Brown Jr. will not play when the Brooklyn Nets host the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, October 25, as Brooklyn keeps the rookie guard out of the second night of a back-to-back while his left ankle is still being built back up.

Jordi Fernandez made the call known ahead of Saturday’s tip in Cleveland, according to reports. The Nets framed it as rest rather than a new injury, but it is part of the same careful plan that has followed Brown since he sprained the ankle in the days before training camp. No setback has been reported.

A rookie on a short leash, by design

Brooklyn took Brown with the No. 6 pick in the 2026 draft after one season at Louisville, where he averaged 18.2 points and 4.7 assists in 21 games. The ankle cost him the first three preseason games. He returned on October 14 in Miami and scored 15 points in 18 minutes off the bench, and he has stayed under a minutes limit since.

The numbers through two regular-season games reflect that. He played 20 minutes in the 110-103 opening loss to the Charlotte Hornets, finishing with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and almost exactly 20 again on Saturday in the 125-121 loss to the Cavaliers, when he went 3 for 10 from the field for 8 points, hit two threes and added 5 assists and 2 steals. Fernandez has said that a player held to that kind of workload is hard to start, because he cannot be on the floor to finish games, so Brown has come off the bench.

Brown has said he has little choice but to be patient, and the Nets appear determined to make that patience the plan for now. Fernandez has not attached a date to lifting the restriction.

What it means for the rotation

With Brown out, more of the ball-handling falls to second-year guard Egor Demin, who was Brooklyn’s best player in Cleveland: 22 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three, 6 assists and a perfect 7-of-7 at the line in 31 minutes. The Nets trailed 96-78 after three quarters and nearly came all the way back with a 43-point fourth, so Fernandez has some reason to trust the guards who closed that game.

The bigger question for the coach is the pairing he wants to see most. Brown and Demin had not shared the floor in the first days of the season, and every game Brown sits pushes that experiment back. For Sunday, the bench minutes Brown would usually soak up go to the rest of the backcourt.

What comes next

The Nets host the Pacers at Barclays Center on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET (Game Center). Brown’s next chance to play is Tuesday, October 27, when Brooklyn visits the Boston Celtics at 7:30 p.m. ET (Game Center), where he is expected to stay on his minutes limit. Follow every status on the NBA injury report.