Nets' Egor Demin Bounces Back Amid Calls to be More Aggressive

Egor Dëmin put forth a dud in the Brooklyn Nets' 119-111 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, leading head coach Jordi Fernández to call on him to be more aggressive.

Dëmin seized the opportunity to put that performance in the rearview, responding with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and three assists in the Nets' 127-82 blowout win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. More importantly, he set the tone early, scoring nine of those points in the first quarter alone.

“I think that’s what coaches kind of want from me,” Dëmin said. “That’s something I’m trying to look for. That’s something I have to try to follow with every single game.”

quick start for the rook 😤@whoisegor3 | #NetsWorld pic.twitter.com/SzesaHKsT5
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 14, 2025

It's never easy to hear your coach call you out publicly with such brutal honesty, but Dëmin, who's shown incredible self-awareness in the only portion of his career, took it in stride.

“Very, very proud of him,” Nets assistant coach Steve Hetzel said. “You know, [Fernandez] challenged Egor, he challenged Drake [Powell], and they both responded beautifully with an edge. You got to be quick to forget about the last one. Move on and play better.”

Dëmin was candid about his adjustment to joining the Nets after being part of several winning situations before stepping onto an NBA hardwood.

“I mean, I didn’t have much lost games in my life,” Dëmin said. “You know, coming from Moscow to Spain, there were a couple of big ones, but in general, I’ve been in a really winning team. It’s always been kind of hurting when we’re losing some big games, or whatever it is. In Spain, in three years, I lost probably three games, and all of them were big. There were two Finals, the national championship, so it’s obviously been always hurting a lot. In college, I had to really learn how to go over those bad games, or even sometimes when we win, but I’m not good with my performance, or when we lost. But again, it’s so many games. College was when I started learning about it, and coaches, obviously KY [Kevin Young], he’s like, ‘Man, you got to go on to the next one.’ You can’t really just stay with whatever happened yesterday.”

Dëmin's 3-point stroke has come along well, but he can certainly benefit from putting on some more muscle, which will help him be better defensively and more aggressive on drives to the rim, if he wants to reach that next level.