Danny’s Wolf Nets growth is on display during the best game of his career

Danny Wolfe was instructed to intentionally miss a free throw in the final seconds of the game Sunday’s loss to the Cavaliersbut the rookie’s “extremely difficult” attempt completely missed the rim due to a foul that essentially ended the Nets’ last chance to come back and win.

His coaches and teammates joked with him afterward, but agreed that the foul shouldn’t detract from what was likely the strongest performance of Wolf’s initial NBA campaign.

The 6-foot-11 forward tallied a career-best 23 points with three 3-pointers, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals in 27 minutes off the bench.

“Obviously you see the points, but it’s nine rebounds, five assists, one turnover; that’s elite,” coach Jordi Fernandez said after the game. “Very happy for him. Well deserved. He was confident from the start, all the shots looked really good.

“He can handle the ball and get to the rim. He did it all, and you can’t control all the time if you’re going to be able to score at that level, but the good things and the good intentions were there.

“He’s grown a lot in this game for him, and I’m happy to see him because he deserves it.”

The 21-year-old Wolf was the last of five NBA first-round picks in 2025, selected 27th overall out of Michigan.

Each of them started at least five games, led by No. 45 lottery pick Igor Demin.

Wolf has started eight times but ranks second only to Damien among the quintet with an average of 8.9 points in 20.5 minutes over 46 games entering back-to-back games Tuesday and Thursday against the Heat in Miami.

The lottery-bound Nets team lost eight straight games, falling within half a game to the Pacers, with the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

“I have (22) more matches to improve this year to finish my first year, but I have to take it one match at a time and hopefully we can get some wins together,” Wolff said. “I think you have a bunch of players in the NBA, and most of them come from winning teams, whatever level they are. No matter how long I can think of in my basketball career, I’ve been part of winning teams, and you know that feeling.”

“This is the first time I’ve been a part of — I don’t want to say we’re a losing team, obviously our record is 15-45 — but we’re the youngest team in the NBA, and there are a lot of valuable lessons.”

One of those things is for Wolf to not repeat his intentionally missed free throw foul if that situation arises again.

“It’s harder to miss the way I did than to make a free throw,” Wolf said. “After I made the first ball, my thought process was to hit the front of the rim, but I definitely hit it too hard.

“You live and you learn; it’s something new that I needed to know and needed to work on that I didn’t know before. So, that’s definitely on me.”

Wolf added that assistant coach Juwan Howard was seen talking and laughing with the rookie immediately after the play, “which is understandable.”

Teammate Michael Porter Jr. said he also joked with Wolfe that “maybe he’s been in the weight room too much,” but the team’s scoring leader also stressed that shouldn’t be focused on that after the rookie’s overall performance on Sunday.

“His all-around game — outside game, 3s, getting into the lane, layups, throwing dimes, post-ups — I thought he was unbelievable and played with a high motor and was all over the floor,” Porter said. “So he has to be able to replicate that, and through mistakes and movements, be able to play that way.

“I thought he didn’t start the game with his first two shots, but I could still see with his energy and aggressiveness that he was going to have a good game, regardless.”

Damien (plantar fascia management) remains out for Tuesday’s game, while Nick Claxton (thumb) is a possibility.