Brooklyn Nets' Egor Demin Voted as Biggest NBA Draft Reach

It's often that we see overreactions to rookie draft picks in their first year, and Brooklyn Nets rookie guard Egor Demin has seemingly become high on that list heading into the regular season following ESPN Jeremy Woo's recent survey among 20 anonymous NBA executives.

"Three players drew multiple votes from the panel: Demin, Yang and Coward, with the Nets guard drawing the most scrutiny. Brooklyn held five first-round picks and ultimately made and rostered all five of them, enabling a strategy that led to several swings on playmaking prospects, including Demin. At 6-foot-9, Demin has excellent passing skills but was divisive for teams all season as he dealt with ups and downs adjusting to college basketball at BYU," said Woo.

Brooklyn's No. 8 pick Egor Demin hits from range for his first bucket of #NBA2KSummerLeague 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PUpU9545QI
— NBA (@NBA) July 10, 2025

This isn't the first backlash that the Nets have faced for their selection of the former BYU guard at No. 8, as many fans and insiders expected Brooklyn to make a move up in the draft via trade, but ultimately no trigger was pulled, leaving the team to stay put at eight to select Demin.

Immediately following Demin's selection, fans of the Nets questioned the decision, considering players like Khaman Maluach (Suns), Cedric Coward (Trail Blazers) and Carter Bryant (Spurs) were all still available with links to Brooklyn in the pre-draft process.

One NBA executive was also quoted in Jeremy Woo's article stating, "Even if you believe in [Demin] as a starting NBA point guard -- and I don't -- it seems like he would've been gettable at the end of the lottery, or even later."

The flashes from Egor Demin are exactly what you wanted to see from him in Summer League.

Long way to go, but like what I see. pic.twitter.com/CpzedKhx3H
— Brooklyn Netcast (@BrooklynNetcast) July 15, 2025

At this year's NBA Summer League, Demin looked rather decent for a rookie coming into his first year. While he did not display a flashiness in his play or a dominant scoring ability, the 19-year-old still showed confidence to shoot the basketball behind the arc, despite what reports may have said about his three-point shooting.

He finished the mini-camp with an average of 11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists, leaving questions still unanswered surrounding his game, but also helped clear some negatives that were put on Demin during his pre-draft process.

Egor Demin in Summer League

11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists

41% FG
43% 3PT
100% FT
25 mpg

Solid outing for Demin in Summer League, jump shot looked good, but needs to work on his interior scoring. 23 out of 27 of his total shots were 3s pic.twitter.com/IiJ9suPqcy
— Cifer (@NetsCifer) July 19, 2025

The Russian basketball player will have a lot to prove this upcoming season, not just to fans but to the Nets front office, who will need the 6-foot-9 point guard to validate his value as the No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

With fall training camp on the horizon, Demin will have the opportunity to work and develop more of his game with the help of the Brooklyn staff. There is still no clear decision on whether or not Demin will be a starter for the Nets heading into the season, but the No. 8 overall pick will still find himself on the roster one way or another.