What’s next after Aldridge?

As the Nets come to grips with LaMarcus Aldridge’s alltoo-brief tenure being cut short when he retired because of an irregular heartbeat, their first thoughts are for his health — and that the situation could have been worse. Far worse.

But as the games keep coming, their thoughts will have to turn to the inevitable question: What’s next?

“It’s a sad situation,” coach Steve Nash said. “Most importantly, though, he avoided a terrible situation.

“You feel sad for him that he’s not playing, but you feel happy that he made a sound decision and is comfortable with his decision and that he can be healthy and have a great life with his family. That’s more important than basketball. So, we really just are grateful for his time here, but are grateful that he’s at home with his family and that he can decide what’s next for him.”

What’s next for the Nets is they’ll suddenly have to move forward without him.

Aldridge — who was diagnosed with Wolff-ParkinsonWhite syndrome as a rookie in 2007, and underwent multiple cardiac ablations — felt an irregular heartbeat on April 10 and retired Thursday.

“I sympathize with LaMarcus. This obviously was not an easy decision for him,” said general manager Sean Marks in his first comments to the Nets’ beat reporters since the January deal for James Harden.

Aldridge had started five straight games and supplanted DeAndre Jordan in the lineup. The Nets started Nic Claxton on Tuesday at Minnesota and went with Jordan on Wednesday in Philadelphia and again Friday. Jeff Green has also started for the Nets, while Blake Griffin has played some small-ball five.

Expect to see more mixing and matching.

“It’s more matchup-based for us,” Nash said. “I don’t think it makes sense to just pencil something in if the matchups aren’t more favorable for us. When you look at our fives — DJ, Nic, Blake [Griffin], Jeff — they all bring something different. They all have a different profile.”