Nets' Egor Dëmin Set for the Vagaries of his Sophomore Season

Dëmin is in a vastly different situation compared to his rookie campaign.

Feb 3, 2026; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin (8) warms up before the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

NBA players entering their second season face plenty of pressure. The terms 'slump' and 'breakout' are often thrown around at leisure. The overreactions coinciding with the sophomore season in the league are already rolling in for the Brooklyn Nets' 2025 draft class.

Fans are down on players like Drake Powell and Ben Saraf after disappointing showings at NBA Summer League, while Egor Dëmin is already getting hype as a potential All-Star in the near future.

Dëmin was named the best sophomore by ESPN's Ben Golliver after an impressive outing in Las Vegas. His stats at a glance warranted the recognition, but it's his improvement in skills that he lacked as a rookie that made the small sample of games intriguing.

He made his living across 52 games last season as a secondary playmaker who created around 75% of his own offense from beyond the arc. Of Dëmin's 8.6 field goal attempts per game, 6.2 of them came from three-pointers. He also played less time initiating the offense than originally anticipated when he was drafted. He boasted an 18.8% usage rate and averaged 3.3 assists per game.

The 20-year-old showed he could be a vastly different player going into year two during NBA Summer League. Dëmin's volume from deep stayed similar at nine attempts per game, but he also increased his production to 5.8 two-point attempts per game through five games.

He played 25.2 minutes per game during that stretch, the same amount he averaged through 52 games as a rookie.

While being more of a scoring threat, he also increased his rebounds, assists and steals per game. The defensive side of the ball is where the 6-foot-8 guard could have a much greater impact going into this season.

Dëmin posted an 18.8% steal rate as a rookie, putting him below the league average for players who played in at least 50 games. During his minutes last season, opposing teams averaged 60 points per game, putting him in the bottom half of the 41 players who averaged between 24 and 26 minutes per game.

He was far from a bad defender, but there's plenty of room to grow for a player with his length and hustle. Dëmin showed amazing strides this Summer in on-ball and help defense situations.

His numbers are obviously going to look different in real NBA games with better competition, but that's also largely due to his role. In the commonly projected starting five of Dëmin, Mikel Brown Jr., Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle and Day'Ron Sharpe, he's the third option at best.

He has no option but to be more aggressive with his opportunities on offense and earn minutes by being the best perimeter defender in that lineup. If he can maintain a three-point percentage above 35% while increasing his rim pressure, he can avoid becoming a three-and-D player and demand the touches of a star scorer down the line.