Nets’ Steve Nash enters COVID-19 protocols

After the Nets were strafed by COVID-19 earlier this season, head coach Steve Nash was a late scratch for Monday night’s game due to health and safety protocols.

Assistant coach Jacque Vaughn led Brooklyn against visiting Toronto at Barclays Center, and will assume head-coaching duties until Nash eventually returns.

The Nets’ entire coaching staff is vaccinated, and under the NBA’s health and safety protocols vaccinated individuals aren’t put in protocol for contact tracing.

Ironically, Nash had been asked before Monday’s game about the unpredictable nature of the Nets’ season, with players in and out.

“I’ve said it before but our group so used to adversity and you know misfortune as far as availability. So I don’t think we perseverate too much on the day-to-day,” said Nash. “I think everyone just continues to focus and work at improving. We’ve asked them to come together during this difficult stretch, and they’ve done that. We’ve asked them to try to improve every single day; they’ve done that.

“We haven’t always got the results, but we feel like we’re building something and finding growth and improvement. It’s just not necessarily equating to wins all the time yet, but I think recently we’ve won some games, improved, and the group has gotten tighter. So I don’t think they’re so affected on a day-to-day basis over who is available and when they’re coming back or not.”

Brooklyn had been hit hard by COVID back before the holidays, with 13 players going into protocol in total, and 10 missing at one time.

The Nets had five different games either tweaked or moved altogether. They went a week without playing from Dec. 18 until Christmas, with three consecutive tilts being canceled.

Vaughn served as interim coach after the Nets parted ways with predecessor Kenny Atkinson two seasons ago, leading the Nets in the Orlando bubble and into the playoffs. When Nash was hired, the 47-year-old Vaughn was retained as the defensive coordinator and lead assistant.