The Brooklyn Nets lead the league in future draft picks with 32, and their cache of future firsts — 13 — is second only to the Oklahoma City Thunder who have two more. But of OKC’s 15 firsts over the next seven years, only one is their own. So you can argue, if you wish, that the Nets have the better quality.
That said, the Nets need to make good picks … and after Wednesday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets, their most recent efforts have to be called into question. In 2025, said to be a generational draft, Brooklyn had five firsts, at Nos. 8, 19, 22, 26 and 27, a record. But a look at the boxscore Wednesday might lead to concern.
Of the five, only the No. 8 (Egor Demin) and No. 19 (Nolan Traore) played and even by their own estimates, they played poorly. The two combined for only seven points on 2-of-14 shooting. Demin and Traore, both playing the points, had only two assists (both Demin) and three turnovers in a combined total of 42 minutes. Forty divided by five is not exactly what fans and the organization had to be thinking would be the optimum for the first game of the Flatbush 5’s second year.
What may have been a more telling piece of data was that of the record five firsts in 2025, they were the only two who actually stepped on the court. The No. 22 (Drake Powell,) No. 26 (Ben Saraf) and No. 27 (Danny Wolf) didn’t touch the court. It was among the several demoralizing aspects of the Opening Night loss. If you’re building through the draft, you better succeed.
“I’m confident that, especially these two kids, we’re going to have no problem with their playmaking, their scoring and their willingness to get better every day,” Fernández said.
Dëmin said after the game he was aware of his subpar play.
“I’m not very happy with how I ended up playing the game,’’ Dëmin said. “I started with two [made] buckets but then kind of just got slower from a standpoint of my intensity, and I’ve definitely got to bring the energy, higher energy.’
“Opportunities are there, everything is given to me, and I just got to be able to execute on the level that I want to be at,” he said.
Traore too.
I think I didn’t play my best. That wasn’t the best game I did, for sure,“ said Demin’s fellow 20-year-old. I think I have to bring more pace to the game. That’s my strength so I got to use it more. But, it’ll be all right.”
Yes, it’s only one game and yes, four of the five (other than Wolf) were among the 20 youngest players in the NBA last season with Traore and Saraf among the 10 youngers and yes, getting a rotational player at the end of the Draft is unlikely. Still, the very core idea of the Nets rebuild — building through the draft — has to be questioned if this continues. Fernandez professes he is not worried.
“I think their intentions were great and can clean up a lot of different things, turnovers, setup, calling plays, all those things,’’ Fernández said. “But we’ll watch film with them, and we’ll make them better… One day you don’t make them, another day they go in, and you’ve just got to stay ready for the next game.”
And of course, the Nets’ highest pick in the last 16 years — Mikel Brown Jr. at No. 6 in 2026 — looked promising, indeed very good — in his limited minutes (19:48) following his left ankle injury. (The No. 28 pick in 2026, Joshua Jefferson, was cleared for action after some back soreness in training camp but was not activated.)
The organization’s confidence in their 2025 picks doesn’t appear to be faltering, but Sean Marks & co. have to decide by November 2 whether to extend all five beyond this season. Of course, we could see change Saturday in Cleveland vs. the Cavaliers.
- Nets’ prized 2025 draft class offers little hope in ugly season-opening loss – Dan Martin with Brian Lewis – New York Post
- Egor Dëmin knows Nets need more than his jumper after rough opener ($) – C.J. Holmes –
