NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets made an interesting choice by selecting Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft earlier this week. While most around the league expected Brooklyn to take Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr., the Nets chose Brown after several meetings with him and general manager Sean Marks explained the deciding factor in the choice.
“I think something that we saw with Mikel was just how anxious and excited he was about getting out there in the NBA, getting out there and, ‘I’ve got something to prove.’ Again, it’s hard to measure,” Marks said of Brown to the media following the conclusion of the first round. Brown significantly increased his stock during the pre-draft process by showing that his back is no longer a factor, but it seems that the behind-the-scenes behavior is what attracted the Nets.
“I think that’s something that will definitely translate when you have a chip on your shoulder. [He’s] an extreme competitor, but he’s athletic, he’s long, he jumps out of the gym,” Marks continued. “I think you already mentioned the range that he has. So I think a lot of those things that maybe you can’t teach, we will see and we’ll see glimpses of them at first.”
Brown, 20, will be thrust into a situation where he could be the starting point guard for the Nets depending on how he performs over the course of the summer and training camp. Brown is coming off a solid freshman season with the Cardinals in which he averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 41.0% from the field and 34.4% from behind the three-point line.
Brown, along with fellow first-round pick in forward Joshua Jefferson, should be part of a Brooklyn rotation that will also include Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and Egor Demin. However, while some will argue that Acuff is more talented than Brown, Marks seems to indicate that the former Louisville alum was the right way to go for an organization that is looking for their next franchise star to have those desired intangibles.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Sean Marks explains choosing Mikel Brown Jr. in 2026 NBA Draft
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire | USA TODAY Network
