The Brooklyn Nets came into the 2025-26 NBA season with one of their goals being to develop the five rookies that they took in the 2025 NBA Draft. While Brooklyn has not seen much out of rookies Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf at the NBA level, Egor Demin has been catching on as of late and pundits around the league are taking notice of his play.
“One of five rookies on the roster as the Nets try to fast-track a rebuild, Demin has seized opportunities to post some crooked numbers,” Steve Aschburner wrote for NBA.com when discussing his latest rookie ladder for the season. Due to Demin’s slow start to the season, he had not made Aschburner’s top-10 list before Wednesday, showing that Demin could be on his way to making an All-Rookie team.
“His usage is up, his accuracy is down in November, but the 6-foot-9 Russian knows it’s all about confidence and reps,” Aschburner continued. “‘Understanding that the coaching staff is believing in me and believing in all of us, I think this is where we can get even more power and even more energy to play as hard as we can,’ Demin said last weekend.”
Demin, 19, heads into the Thanksgiving break with averages of 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 37.1% from the field and 34.6% from three-point land. Since entering the rotation as the starting point guard nine games ago, Demin is averaging 9.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per contest on .388/.360/.833 shooting splits.
Demin, the eighth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, is learning on the job while being on his development track, something that head coach Jordi Fernandez has experience doing in his background in player development. At this point, Demin appears to be set as the starting point guard now that he has settled down to being a steady contributor so there is a chance that he could rise up the rookie ladder as the season progresses.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Egor Demin makes NBA.com rookie ladder for first time this year
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
