Here are the Brooklyn Nets player grades following Friday's 131-124 home-opening loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Cleveland narrowly edged the feisty Brooklyn Nets, claiming its first win of the season, 131-124, on Friday night inside Barclays Center.

It looks like injuries are already starting to pile up for the Nets. Powell, Wolf and Haywood Highsmith (knee) will miss Friday's home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which will be a great test for Brooklyn after playing a team expected to finish in the basement of the league. The Cavaliers are widely regarded as title contenders.

After a humbling season-opening loss, coach Jordi Fernandez challenged his Nets to show more fight and his stars, Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr., to give more on both ends. He got all of that and more. And it still wasn’t enough, as Brooklyn dropped its home opener 131-124 to Cleveland before a crowd of 17,548 at Barclays Center.

The Cavaliers opened the night hitting six of their first seven shots, while the Nets stumbled out of the gate at 3-for-8. When Cam Thomas coughed up a turnover that led to a Sam Merrill 3-pointer, Fernández had seen enough calling his first timeout less than five minutes in with his team already trailing 16-7.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/nets as Nic Claxton is Ready to Return to Form for the Brooklyn Nets.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Brooklyn Nets meet Friday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Early in the Nets’ 137–117 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, one sequence perfectly captured Brooklyn’s defensive struggles.

Sources tell cleveland.com that Hunter, officially listed as questionable going into Friday night’s matchup against Brooklyn, will miss his second straight game because of a knee contusion suffered Oct. 14. There remains some uncertainty about Hunter’s status for Sunday — the 2025-26 home opener at Rocket Arena.

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said before Friday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers that Drake Powell and Danny Wolf are day-to-day.