MILWAUKEE — The Nets are going to be playing the best team in the NBA on Thursday, and they will be doing it with a skeleton crew.
Three starters — Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson and Spencer Dinwiddie — will miss the game versus the league-leading Bucks.
Royce O’Neale, who leads the Nets in minutes played, and Ben Simmons also will be out.
While Dinwiddie will be sitting out for rest, Claxton has a right thumb sprain and left Achilles tendinopathy, Johnson has a sore right knee, O’Neale has a sore left knee and Simmons has ongoing left knee and back soreness woes.
All of them will be out against a Bucks team that is 47-18.
Johnson is set to be a restricted free agent this summer, so both he and the Nets are going to have some big decisions to make.
How does the sweet-shooting forward keep his focus where it belongs — on the game at hand — rather than stressing over the negotiations sure to follow?
“Yeah, it’s actually not too hard,” Johnson told The Post. “You’ve got to think why you’re doing it in the first place. And then you’ve got to think what you’re doing it for, and it’s because at the end of the day, I love to compete and play this game.
“I’ve said this — because this was a topic of discussion when I didn’t sign the extension — and I tried to tell them that I’m still under contract at this moment. I still had that year. I still have the rest of this year. And my goal right now is to win games and make a playoff push.”
Johnson rejected a four-year, $72 million rookie scale extension from the Suns in October. One league source told The Post $18 million annually should be Johnson’s floor this summer, but that could easily climb to $20 million in a wing’s league.
After Nets general manager Sean Marks inked four restricted free agents to offer sheets from July 2016-July 2017 (all were matched), could somebody turn the tables?
“I’ll let the future take care of itself. I’m not going to sit here and think on it too hard or worry about it too much. I’m really just living in the present, enjoying it,” Johnson told The Post. “There’s so much I’ve got to think about getting acclimated to a new city. This time of the year is serious basketball and that’s enough for all of us, for any of us, to keep us plenty occupied.”
Cam Thomas, who did not play Tuesday in Houston, had his minutes absorbed by newly signed Nerlens Noel, who is on a 10-day deal. But coach Jacque Vaughn insisted Thomas hasn’t been dropped from the rotation.
“Yeah, he could easily play 30 minutes [against the Bucks],” Vaughn said. “So it doesn’t change my ability to put him on the floor at any time of the game.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo (illness) and Jrue Holiday (neck) are probable for the Bucks, as is former Net Jae Crowder, who was part of the Kevin Durant trade, but was flipped to Milwaukee for a pair of second-rounders.