“Stay ready” has been the motto of the Brooklyn Nets' bench unit throughout the 2022-23 season. With the ever-changing nature of the roster through suspensions, injuries and a pair of blockbuster trades, that motto has been put to the test. One of the faces at the forefront of the movement has been first-year Net Edmond Sumner.

The 27-year-old has produced when called upon while bouncing in and out of the rotation, averaging 7.5 points on 46/36/93 shooting splits in 49 appearances. With Seth Curry out for personal reasons Saturday at Miami, Sumner had his number called. And he would provide the spark that ignited a dramatic turnaround in Brooklyn's biggest game of the season.

The Xavier product scored 12 points on 4-0f-7 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench. He capped off a late first-half push with a coast-to-coast layup with at the buzzer to cut the Miami Heat's lead to four.

The Nets would open the third quarter on a 31-6 run to propel themselves to a 129-100 comeback win. And Cam Johnson went out of his way to credit Sumner's energy for Brooklyn's turnaround postgame:

“I'd like to say that Ed Sumner came in give us a huge lift today,” he said. “I know he's been through some stuff in his career, but just to see him playing with joy in his face, I think that elevates everybody. He's out there playing hard with a smile on his face. He plays at 100 miles per hour and flies around. I thought a lot of people fed off that today. It was a lot of fun watching him hoop today.”

Edmond Sumner signed with the Nets for the minimum this offseason after missing all of last year with a torn Achilles. Despite the injury and an inconsistent role in Brooklyn's rotation, head coach Jacque Vaughn said the former second-round pick has epitomized the team's “stay ready” spirit this season.

“I had a conversation with him in previous days. It was really telling him I appreciate his approach,” Vaughn said Sunday. “I think you need to hear that from a coach or from a teammate throughout the course of the year when you’re not in the rotation. What are you doing to do your part as a teammate? Edmond has been at the top of the list.

“Overall just his spirit has been in the right place. And that carries when you’re in the rotation, out of the rotation, next to a teammate, in the locker room. I think guys feed off that and appreciate it.”

Johnson said that approach is a product of Sumner's passion for the game, something that has inspired his teammates in recent weeks.

“It's very inspirational and it shows that he does it for the love of the game,” Johnson explained. “I came up and said something to him at the end of the game, and he just said ‘Bro I love playing. Like, NBA money whatever aside, like I just love the opportunity to play basketball.’ And that's appreciated as a teammate because you see a guy just flying around willing to do whatever it takes. Everybody feeds off that.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Heat's Jimmy Butler looking tired, with diagram of knee injury beside him

Jedd Pagaduan ·

Heat's Erik Spoelstra with a thought bubble containing an image of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo holding the 2023 Eastern Conference champions trophy

Jedd Pagaduan ·

Heat's Jimmy Butler stands next to Caleb Martin and 76ers logo, NBA Play-In fans in background

Christopher Smith ·

“So it was great to see him go in there, mix it up, get on the floor. You saw him with a full-court, four-second fastbreak. He's fast, he got going. He just brings that juice and I love it.”

Sumner gave credit to his teammates for generating openings. He complimented his team's urgency during the emphatic second-half turnaround but said they will need to maintain that focus over four quarters as they battle to avoid the play-in with eight games remaining.

“All of these games are going be important. I loved our urgency and we have to start that way from the get-go,” Sumner said. “We keep seeing flashes. We will go first and second maybe, first and fourth. We just need to put together four straight quarters of good basketball honestly. I feel like our team has to figure some stuff out but we’re headed in the right direction.”