UNC Basketball: Day’Ron Sharpe shines for Nets in first career start

Former UNC basketball standout Day’ron Sharpe played a big role in the Nets’ Wednesday night victory over the first-place Bulls.

Day’Ron Sharpe got his first career start for the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night and it paid off for everyone involved; except for the first-place Chicago Bulls, of course.

Sharpe, the Nets’ 2021 first round draft pick that’s averaging just nine minutes per game in his rookie season, was in the starting lineup due to a right hamstring injury that has regular starter Nicolas Claxton sidelined. And for the second consecutive game, Sharpe logged better than 20 minutes off the Brooklyn bench and scored double-digit points.

On Monday night, Sharpe gave the Nets 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three blocks in 24 minutes off the bench against the Portland Trail Blazers. He was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor that night, and it marked the highest-scoring game of his young career to that point.

But it took just two days for him to top that, as he scored a new career-high of 20 points in a blowout victory over the Bulls at the United Center on Wednesday. He was efficient shooting the ball again, knocking down 10-of-14 shots for the game to go along with seven rebounds and a block in 22 minutes of play.

That’s a big uptick in production and playing time for a guy averaging just 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in less than 10 minutes a night. Both Sharpe and the Nets hope that this is a trend as they move into the future and look to battle for an NBA Finals appearance in an ultra-competitive Eastern Conference.

If Sharpe can continue to play this way, a starting role in the Brooklyn organization is a completely attainable goal for the 20-year-old big man out of North Carolina.

For more on Day’Ron Sharpe and UNC basketball alumni throughout the NBA, check back with Keeping It Heel.