Nolan Traoré Making a Late All-Rookie Push for the Brooklyn Nets

When the Brooklyn Nets selected five players in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, many analysts and fans mocked them. ESPN's Brian Windhorst even noted the criticism from league personnel during an alternate broadcast of the event.

"I got some people telling me some things about Brooklyn, people are making fun of these draft picks," Windhorst said. "I got people saying to me, executives and agents, they're like, 'I was watching them play three two-way guys during this year so that they can clap for taking the guys they've chosen.' He's like, 'These two-way guys might be just as good as the guys they've taken.'"

Fast forward to today, and the script has flipped on Brooklyn's 2025 draft class. The most prominent name is the team's lottery pick, Egor Dёmin. The Russian sharpshooter is averaging 10.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game on nearly 40% shooting from three. He is certainly in contention for an All-Rookie team.

While the rest of the class has shown promise, one rookie is making a serious late-season push for that honor. Nolan Traoré, the No. 19 overall pick, has put together a string of elite performances, not just for a first-year NBA guard, but for a league player in general.

Traoré most recently put up 17 points, three assists and two steals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but over his last six games, the production has risen with the opportunities received. The French point guard is averaging 15.7 points, 6.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game on 52-41-77 shooting splits in that stretch.

On the season, Traoré is putting up 7.8 points and 3.5 assists per game, but there's still time for him to make a late-season All-Rookie push.

Coming out of the draft, his biggest strength was playmaking, and while he has certainly displayed that, he's also becoming an aggressive scorer with the ball in his hands, initiating sets. Traoré has been excellent at operating with screens, able to find the open man and read defenses with precision as of late.

If he can continue to produce despite Brooklyn's 15-40 record, the Nets may have two guards in All-Rookie contention by the end of the season. Traoré and Dёmin are leading a new era of franchise basketball, able to score and playmake at high levels. With 27 games left, the concern for the Nets is geared toward player development than actually winning games.