The Brooklyn Nets will be without Kevin Garnett, Shaun Livingston and Marcus Thornton Sunday night when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.
Garnett is resting with the Nets playing their second game of a back-to-back. Livingston is out after bruising his tailbone in the first quarter of Saturday night's loss to the Golden State Warriors, while Thornton remains sidelined due to food poisoning and will have to wait to make his Nets' debut.
Rookie Mason Plumlee will start in place of Garnett, while Andrei Kirilenko will make his first start of the season in place of Livingston.
Nets coach Jason Kidd told reporters that Jason Collins will play off the bench. Collins, 35, a 12-year veteran, will become the first active openly gay player in NBA history Sunday night after signing a 10-day contract with Brooklyn.
Garnett, 37, has appeared in 47 of the team's first 53 games, while averaging a career-low 21.3 minutes. After a slow start, he turned his season around in 2014, and is shooting 56.0 percent from the field in February.
