Atlanta Hawks Vs Brooklyn Nets: Preview, How to Watch, and Projected Starters For Today's SL Game

Summer League isn't really about winning the game - it's about rookies and fringe roster players proving that they belong in the NBA. Even so, the Hawks have been able to showcase several of their talented prospects and collect big wins along the way.

They just blew out a Summer League team that started two former first-round picks in Carter Bryant and Tarris Reed. It is true that the rest of San Antonio's team wasn't exactly filled with NBA talent, but the Hawks showed that they are a cut above an average Summer League team and there's going to be hard decisions about who to keep off the roster this season.

They're going up against a Nets team that appears to be on a different tier. Brooklyn will be featuring their No. 6 overall pick in Mikel Brown Jr and an intriguing top-ten pick last season in Egor Demin. Both of them are coming off 20-point performances in a blowout win over the New York Knicks. Two of Brooklyn's other 2025 first-round picks in Danny Wolf and Drake Powell will be starting and they'll also bring Ben Saraf off the bench. Former UNC star RJ Davis is also going to be in Brooklyn's rotation after spending the 2025-26 season with the South Bay Lakers.

Demin and Brown are arguably the Nets' best prospects right now, so this will be a great test for the Summer League Hawks as they attempt to go 2-0 in Las Vegas.

Game Preview

Hawks, Atlanta Hawks, NBA, Egor Demin, Demin, Nets, Brooklyn Net — Feb 22, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin (8) dribbles against Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The main matchup for tonight is, rightfully so, going to be between Kingston Flemings vs Mikel Brown Jr. Brooklyn obviously had the chance to take Flemings at No. 8, but decided to opt for the bigger Louisville guard with arguably higher flashes. Even so, Atlanta's seen a lot of great things out of Flemings this summer and few rookies have been able to match his all-around impact.

Flemings has recorded a whopping 22 assists to three total turnovers in his first three games of SL action. That's extremely encouraging because assist numbers do tend to translate into rookie seasons. Flemings has proved he's one of the best passers throughout the summer and he's capable of making the right read every time. The defense has also been impressive - he's hung with Darryn Peterson and he'll now get a chance to test his mettle against Brown.

It is also true that the shooting hasn't necessarily been there for Flemings thus far. That's not really a cause for concern. Shooting efficiency or scoring output isn't very predictive of how well a player will shoot the ball in the NBA unless they are a non-shooter. Flemings obviously isn't a non-shooter, so it's reasonable to expect that his shooting will get better in time. Conversley, Brown's shooting was excellent in his Summer League debut. He scored 20 points on 6-12 shooting from the field and hit 50% of his three-pointers. While it is true that shooting efficieny doesn't always translate, it's pretty clear that Brown has real range as a shooter and it's going to be tough to guard him on the perimeter. Fortunately, Flemings is an extremely talented defender.

Pitting Zuby Ejiofor and Danny Wolf against each other will be a fun matchup to watch. Despite being a seven-foot center, Wolf has some range as a shooter and can handle the ball decently well for his size. Ejiofor didn't have a flashy game against the Spurs, but he held his own on defense and did really well against Aday Mara earlier this summer. Wolf will be a similar profile, so there's reason to believe he can perform well.

Atlanta's bench unit played really well against San Antonio. Four of the five finished with 10+ points and Henri Veesar led all bench players as a +17 in his 19 minutes of action. He finished with 14 points and six rebounds on 5-8 shooting from the field. However, the other bench players did a great job of holding up on the perimeter. Kobe Johnson, Keshon Gilbert, and RayJ Dennis all finished with 2+ steals and punished San Antonio's lack of strong ball-handlers. They'll have a tougher challenge tonight - Egor Demin shot 38.5% as a 20 year-old rookie in 52 games at the NBA level. Forcing him into turnovers and running him off the line will be critical to do if the Hawks want to stay unbeaten in Vegas.

One player that will be interesting to watch for the Nets is forward Chaney Johnson. He was on a two-way contract for the Nets last season and played in 17 games for them. Johnson is a great rebounder and he's been an efficient scorer for the Nets in limited minutes. His defense is fairly solid too and it'll be important to see how Ejiofor and Newell can match someone like him in this game. Newell hasn't been overwhelmingly dominant thus far in Summer League, but he's been impactful on both ends of the court and showed off his finishing around the rim so far.

How to Watch

Today's game will be shown at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Projected Starters

G - Kingston Flemings

G - Isaac McKneely

F - Gabe Madsen

F - Asa Newell

C - Zuby Ejiofor

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