Nets rookie Joshua Jefferson to miss entire preseason with back injury

Brooklyn Nets rookie Joshua Jefferson will not play in Wednesday’s preseason finale at the Miami Heat because of a back injury, ClutchPoints’ Erik Slater reported. The ruling means the No. 28 pick in June’s draft will finish the exhibition schedule without appearing in a single game.

Jefferson has been dealing with what coach Jordi Fernández described as a stiff lower back since the opening days of camp. He sat out the preseason opener at Charlotte on Oct. 6, the Oct. 8 home game against the Philadelphia 76ers and Monday’s win at the Washington Wizards, with a reporting the back issue each time. Miami makes it four games out of four.

No timeline before opening night

No return date has been reported, and the Nets have not described the injury as anything more serious than back stiffness. Brooklyn opens the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 21, against the Charlotte Hornets at Barclays Center, and Jefferson’s availability for that game is now an open question. Practices over the next week will be the first real sign of whether he can be part of the rotation from the start.

The missed time is a setback for a rookie who was already playing catch-up. Jefferson hurt his left ankle during Iowa State’s NCAA Tournament run and said at media day that it took him a while to come back from it. He did get through three Las Vegas Summer League games for Brooklyn in July, which had the club hoping the back problem would be a short one.

Who Brooklyn drafted

Jefferson arrived as one of the more experienced first-round picks of the 2026 class. He spent two seasons at Saint Mary’s before transferring to Iowa State, where he started 70 games over two years. As a senior he averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals in 30.9 minutes and made 34.5 percent of his threes, earning second-team All-America honors. The Timberwolves made the pick on Brooklyn’s behalf as part of a three-team trade.

With those passing numbers, he projects as a point forward who can run offense from the frontcourt. That is the kind of player the Nets hoped to test against NBA opponents this month, alongside a young backcourt led by Egor Demin and fellow rookie Mikel Brown Jr.

Brown cleared for his debut

Brooklyn’s other first-round rookie is heading the other way. Brown, the No. 6 pick, has been cleared from the injury report after an ankle sprain kept him out of the first three preseason games, and he is expected to make his Nets debut in Miami. “I feel amazing,” Brown told Lewis this week. “I’ve been waiting and itching to play for the longest.”

Nets at Heat tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, which is 2:30 a.m. Thursday in Cairo. It is Brooklyn’s last game before the regular season.