Surprise Pick! BYU’s Egor Demin Joins The Brooklyn Nets
When the NBA draft began last night, a lot of eyes were on the Brooklyn Nets and for good reason,
Brooklyn had amassed a bevy of first round selections, being slated to pick a whopping total of 5 times in the first round.
The Nets were on the clock for the 8th, 19th, 22nd, 26th and 27th pick and with such a trove of draft capital many were anticipating them to combine assets to potentially consolidate and move up in the draft.
Yet, that would prove to be crazy talk as Brooklyn became the first team in NBA history to not only make five 1st-round picks, but to keep every single one.
In a draft full of anticipated talent, Brooklyn’s very first pick set the tone for how little we knew about the Nets strategy.
With their very first selection, Brooklyn took BYU’s very own Egor Demin with the 8th overall pick.
Demin, who had some impressive combine results and interview showings was still largely projected to land anywhere from the late lottery to the early 20’s.
So checking in at 8th overall was a step up for the guard out of Russia.
BYU fans clearly rejoiced as #1: He was the first draft pick to represent Provo on that stage since Jimmer Fredette in 2011, and #2: He being more valued than people initially anticipated always feels like a win when the guy you cheer for is better than expected.
Demin spent a season as the Cougars floor general appearing in 33 games with averages of 10.6 points, 5.5 assist and 3.9 boards.
His 6-9 height as a point guard combined with defensive capabilities, mixed with elite passing ability, playmaking attributes, all tied together with shooting potential made him a projected lottery pick before ever stepping foot on campus.
Despite being on the NBA radar before ever committing to Kevin Young and BYU, Demin still had to work to solidify his status as a lottery player.
The college basketball season rolled on and came with good and bad for Egor, who had nights where he looked like a no-brain selection in the lottery, and then had stretches where he still seemed to raw to use a such selection on, thus his variation in mock drafts.
The beautiful thing about being an NBA prospect, is that cold streaks or struggles don’t define who you are to an organization.
Many franchise front offices draft in regards to potential as much as they do proven capabilities.
Demin did enough at BYU to keep the interest and flash his potential, setting things up nicely at the NBA combine where he showed his 27 % three point shooting on the season was fluky by nailing 16 consecutive threes in 35 seconds.
It impressed an ample amount of teams, but clearly Brooklyn was the most influenced.
Now Egor will have gone through Russia, Provo, Utah and Brooklyn, New York all within a couple of years.
Brooklyn is a tough market, with some tough fans, who have gone through not much of anything good when it comes to their favorite team.
It's very much a sink or swim type of place and starting his career with the weight of being a top ten overall pick means that things will feel a bit heavier as opposed to if he would have went with, lets say, the 19th pick.
Either way, Demin's optimistic personality and love of the game give him as good a chance of any of going in and contributing to turning around the Nets franchise.
Fans will likely get their first look at Demin in a pseudo NBA setting on July 10th down the road in Las Vegas for the NBA2K26 Summer League where all 30 teams will be represented.
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