Dallas native Julius Randle goes uncharacteristically quiet for Nets in home return

DALLAS — Usually Julius Randle feasts on home cooking. But Sunday the Dallas native’s return to Big D couldn’t have gone much worse.

The Nets took a 130-93 beating at the hands of the Mavericks on the tail end of a back-to-back.

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Though Randle had averaged 23.5 points, nine rebounds and 4.8 assists in his trips back here, the veteran forward struggled with just 13 points, four boards, three turnovers and finished a wretched minus-33.

Brooklyn Nets forward Julius Randle (30) drives against Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (right) during an NBA game in Dallas, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. AP Photo/LM Otero

“You look at the stat line and it’s 50 percent from the field. The turnovers sometimes, especially the bad ones in transition, and those are the tough ones,” Jordi Fernández said. “But even though it says four assists, I think he created potential assists. It was like a lot of them. And that’s the way we want to play with moving the ball, touching the paint, spraying it for 3.

“So I was happy with the approach. It’s just like we didn’t see the ball going enough times. And then we didn’t defend well at all. So you combine those two things and that’s what happened. You lose by a big margin.”

The Nets were short-handed in the backcourt, missing both Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr.

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Dëmin sat out a sixth straight game, after which the Nets will reevaluate the young guard’s leg injury. The Nets are slated to practice Tuesday in Dallas before playing Wednesday in New Orleans.

Dëmin suffered a right leg bone bruise in an Oct. 27 overtime loss at Boston. Two days later, the Nets announced he’d be reevaluated after one week.

Meanwhile, Brown still has not been cleared to play in back-to-back games.

After center Day’Ron Sharpe entered Sunday’s game with 21 assists in his last two games — including a Nets center record 13 during a triple-double Saturday night in Atlanta — he added six more against the Mavericks.

Day’ron Sharpe #20 of the Brooklyn Nets takes a pass as Caleb Martin #16 of the Dallas Mavericks defends in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 8, 2026. Getty Images

“Yeah, I mean, he’s been unbelievable….

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Publish date : 2026-11-09 06:04:00

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