Two-big lineups are everywhere in this year’s NBA playoffs. The Brooklyn Nets are equipped to participate in this trend, but head coach Jordi Fernández has rarely dabbled in it.
In Sunday’s postseason games, the most prominent example that has been dominant all season long is the Cleveland Cavaliers’ dual center lineup of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The Cavs bolstered their frontcourt at a time when the NBA was increasingly focused on wings, while also embracing two point guards in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Crucially, both centers and ballhandlers can also play by themselves to good effect.
Then, they surrounded that core with role players who add some intersection of three-point shooting, connective decision making, size and defense. Think Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill, De’Andre Hunter, Dean Wade and Isaac Okoro. Their unconventional approach deserves credit, and it has led to real success. The Cavs finished as the top seed in the East with a 64-18 record, then blew out the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. Cleveland lost their first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Indiana Pacers.
The Houston Rockets punished the Golden State Warriors all series long by playing Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams together. In their 93 shared minutes, the international bruisers posted a +20.6 net rating.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka had the option of an additional wrinkle in Jabari Smith Jr., who is really a 4 that was coming in at the 3. Houston played Sengun, Adams and Smith together for 55 minutes with a +33.3 net rating and a stellar 77.7 defensive rating. The Cavs have similar optionality with Dean Wade, who operates more like a catch-and-shoot wing than a power forward.
The Warriors responded to the Rockets’ battering ram bigs by bringing Kevon Looney back into the fold for their Game 7 win. Looney had only played for two minutes in the previous game, and his participation throughout the series was shaky. The Golden State center was largely subbing in for Draymond Green, so this is more about how certain things that centers do — their screening, rebounding, physicality and size — don’t go out of fashion; however, the two shared some time on the court together in the fourth quarter.
In Monday’s games, the Oklahoma City Thunder will play Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein together. The New York Knicks can try to punish teams with Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns. They’ve played 40 minutes together, but with a -4.9 net rating and signs of an offense that stalls. The Boston Celtics won a championship by starting Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis, and that is still the arrangement.
Over in Brooklyn, the team did not make the playoffs, but the organization top-to-bottom is surely paying attention. Assuming that the same frontcourt players return, the Nets have the roster flexibility to line up with two bigs more often if head coach Fernández opts to. Nothing is set in stone, though, since a lot will still happen in the summer with the NBA Draft and free agency.
This season, Nic Claxton and Noah Clowney played together for 481 minutes. That pair posted a -15.5 net rating, and the 51.8 TS% is not encouraging either. The next most-used duo was Clowney with Day’Ron Sharpe. The results were better there, with a -9.4 net in 240 minutes played. Still, Clowney has effectively been a wing, not a big for Fernández so far.
Earlier in the season, Claxton played 253 minutes next to Ben Simmons. That was a tricky fit in the half-court, given that the latter was a center against set defenses and a point guard in the open court. But Fernández was open to the idea.
It would be interesting to see the Nets’ bench boss turn to Claxton and Sharpe together. That would more closely resemble the Allen and Mobley combination, although a Frankenstein-style playoff comparison would actually be Claxton acting as the Cavs’ Mobley and Sharpe acting as the Rockets’ Adams. The two Brooklyn bigs have only shared the court for 13 minutes.
Fernández could also add Clowney to the Claxton-Sharpe frontcourt to act as Smith or Wade. This is all idealistic and hinges on development, but the broad skills exist. So far, this has not happened at all. Claxton, Sharpe and Clowney played just one minute all at once this season.
In the 2025 draft, some bigs for the Nets to think about with the idea of playing two bigs include Khaman Maluach, Collin Murray-Boyles, Asa Newell, Derik Queen, Thomas Sorber and Ryan Kalkbrenner. The next key date for Brooklyn is the May 12 draft lottery.
