Rodions Kurucs’ time in the Nets’ starting lineup might not last particularly long, but the 20-year-old rookie continued to make a case for a regular spot in the budding team’s rotation on Friday night against Washington.

With Allen Crabbe sidelined with a sore right knee, the 6-foot-9 Kurucs contributed 15 points and six rebounds over a season-high 30 minutes in his first NBA start — and the Nets’ fourth straight victory following an eight-game losing skid — ahead of Sunday’s game against Atlanta at Barclays Center.

“The big question is can you do this long term, as the league gets to know him better?” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said when asked about Kurucs after practice Saturday. “This is a small pocket of games, but my experience says I believe this will be a season-long thing where he’s getting minutes now.”

The Nets (12-18) have brought their second-round pick out of Barcelona (40th overall) along slowly, farming him out several times for seasoning in the G-League with the Long Island Nets. Kurucs, who buried five of six shots against the Wizards, is averaging 7.7 points over 14.3 minutes while appearing in just 13 of the Nets’ first 30 games.

“The G-League just gave me more minutes and more playing time and I could try a lot of things I learned in practice in the games,” the Latvia native said. “It gave me playing time and that was the most important thing because I was on the bench here at that time.

“Coach told me to just go there and play and enjoy playing and have fun, and do the things that you do here in practice over there. Just to keep playing was so important.”

Atkinson sees Kurucs as a raw talent adapting quickly to the NBA style, especially because he didn’t even play regularly on Barcelona’s top team last season, reportedly because he refused to sign an extension in Spain with an eye on entering the NBA draft.

“He doesn’t know any better. His naivete is his strength, if that makes sense,” Atkinson said. “He’s so naive, so innocent, that he just goes out and plays without any fear. We kind of need that. He bring athleticism, I think that’s underlying, he’s pretty athletic, his length, his speed.

“Because when you think about it, we start Joe [Harris] and Allen [Crabbe], but we don’t really have a long wing. DeMarre [Carroll] gives us some length there, but Rodi is really long with a long wingspan, so he provides some length and versatility on the wing, which is so important for us.”

Crabbe participated in a light team workout Saturday, but the veteran swingman has been listed as doubtful for Sunday’s 3 p.m. game against the Hawks (6-22). Following Friday’s performance, Kurucs figures to have earned at least one more crack at starting.

“[Friday] meant a lot to me because I didn’t really start before. I started for the second team with Barcelona, but I never started on the big team,” Kurucs said. “So that meant a lot to me, because it also gives me confidence that coach trusted me and my teammates trusted me and helped me and generally showed me how much I can mean to the team.”