The Nets‘ selection of Egor Demin with the No. 8 pick in the 2025 draft was met with surprise by many, but according to Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily, there’s plenty of reason for optimism about the selection.
The clearest reason for this, according to Kaplan, is that the combination of size, passing, and shooting has never been more valuable than it is in today’s NBA, and Demin comes into the league clearly possessing at least two of those three attributes. The swing skill is, of course, the outside shot, which has troubled Demin throughout his career as a prospect, but has had moments of positive projection.
“I saw him up close and personal in his individual workouts, and other workouts that we had here with the group, and was able to compare what we saw during the season to what we saw now, and the uptick and the improvement that we saw was pretty outstanding,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said of the rookie.
Despite his skills as a passer, Demin will likely be reliant on having a high-quality screen-setter to help him shake defenders at the NBA level, according to Kaplan, who adds that playing off a natural scorer like Cam Thomas should help him get some easy looks as a catch-and-shoot option.
We have more from the Nets:
- The Nets received 28-year-old wing Terance Mann in the trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis from the Celtics to the Hawks. On a young team full of unproven players, Mann will have a chance to serve as a leader either as a starter or off the bench, writes Nets Income of Nets Daily, who adds that Mann’s defensive intensity should fit well in the culture that head coach Jordi Fernandez is trying to establish. Mann averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 30 games for the Hawks last season after being traded from the Clippers.
- Dariq Whitehead‘s lack of participation in the Nets’ Summer League squad was met with some surprise, but the decision was made with an eye towards getting him as healthy as possible coming into the 2025 season, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Lewis says the decision was made in conjunction with Marks and Whitehead’s agents at Excel Sports. “With the way I finished last season, it was just something that I guess my agent talked to Sean about and they were [thinking] more so get my body ready and prepare for training camp and next season,” Whitehead said.
- Much was made of the Nets’ decision to use all five of their first-round picks in the 2025 draft. On Thursday, four of those five players made their Summer League debuts, but Lewis calls it more of a tease than anything revealing. Demin and Danny Wolf both shook off slow starts to ultimately have some interesting moments in the loss to the Thunder. Nolan Traore ended with 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists, despite twisting his ankle in the first quarter, and Lewis called Traore’s speed with the ball one of the standout attributes in the game. Drake Powell missed the game with a knee injury, while Ben Saraf came off the bench.