Before the Nets left for their trip to London, Jordan Farmar was nursing a sore left ankle. So the Nets wanted point guard help. They looked around and found Sundiata Gaines, a guy already on their radar, at home in Queens. Gaines had everything the Nets required.
He had toughness. He had a defensive presence. He had experience.
He had a passport.
“I was at home and New Jersey happened to call me and asked if I had a passport, if I could go to London with the team,” Gaines explained. “To go to London, I’d need a passport.”
The Nets, who are in Cleveland tonight hoping to end a four-game losing streak, considered Orien Greene, whom they had brought in earlier on a 10-day contract. But Gaines was in the city. With a passport, no less. So the late Sunday night call Feb. 27 enabled Gaines to get to New Jersey for the Monday game with Phoenix and sign a 10-day deal. After that game, he flew with the team to London, where he began showing enough to warrant keeping him through the rest of the season. And then some.
Gaines, 25 next month, received a multi-year deal that guarantees him $884,292 next season. Add that to the $197,274 he’ll make this year and that was a million dollar-plus passport he had in his pocket.
“What stood out for them might have been my defense,” said the 6-1 Gaines, who was undrafted out of Georgia after starring at Archbishop Molloy High. “Playing good defense on the opposing team’s best player and staying focused on my task every day and working hard.”
Gaines, who did time with the Jazz, Timberwolves and Raptors, has shown a fearless streak. He makes things happen on the court and plays with a confident aggression at both ends. When Gaines arrived, Deron Williams, a guy he backed up for a time last year in Utah, approved because of how difficult he made practices with his relentless defense.
“He’s made some big plays for us on both ends of the floor,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “He’s made a big three or two for us every now and then. Breaks down the defense. He guards, a lot of times, the tougher one or two that’s out there on the floor if we’re not size-prohibited. He’s done a nice job for us.”
Gaines was on the floor against Indiana in the final minutes Monday when the Nets staged a furious rally after blowing an earlier 12-point lead. In the final 2:09, though, they sliced an 11-point Pacers lead to two. Gaines hit a big 3-pointer that made it a two-point game — and gave himself a career-high 18 points — after missing a potential game-tying 3-point shot on a busted play with 15.9 seconds left. And all this came after he was knocked to the floor going for a loose ball, suffering a stinger in his neck.
“It definitely hurts with the loss. But I guess the good thing is we competed to the end,” Gaines said. “We just came up a little short.”