Takeaways From The Brooklyn Nets' First Two Games of The California Classic

The Brooklyn Nets are two games into the 2026 California Classic, going 1-1 across Saturday and Sunday. They lost to the Sacramento Kings 79-76 in their opening game and then blew out the Milwaukee Bucks 89-69.

Brooklyn's lineups have looked different across the first two games, with players like Egor Dëmin, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Tyler Bilodeau holding out of the second game. Other players such as Mikel Brown Jr. and Danny Wolf have yet to play their first Summer League game despite being on the roster.

While these games carry little weight in the actual NBA season, we can see battles for roster spots begin and how some players may factor into the rotation.

Dëmin Too Good For Summer League

The Nets may not need to see anything more from their prized player of the 2025 NBA Draft. Dëmin posted 23 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes against the Kings. Despite going 2-for-8 from three-point range, he was an extremely efficient 6-for-7 on attempts from inside the arc.

Dëmin's showing the strides necessary going into year two. Nearly 75% of his shots came from deep in his rookie season. Getting opportunities in the paint was a struggle. After one Summer League game, Dëmin looks stronger and more assertive to get downhill.

He's poised to start in the backcourt during the regular season, and the only reason he should see more time through the Summer schedule is to see how he fits next to Brown.

Two-Way Race is Heating up

There is one more two-way spot open on Brooklyn's roster. Chaney Johnson and Bilodeau currently hold the other two contracts of that variety. It's clear after the second game that the Nets could go many different directions with their final two-way player.

All eight players who played in the win over the Bucks scored at least seven points. Ben Humrichous and Hunter Sallis led the way with 15 points, followed by Dwight Murray Jr. with 14 points. If Brooklyn wants another big, Duke Brennan and Dain Dainja both had 10 points and over six rebounds apiece. The final player who could make sense at this point in the Summer is guard Dion Brown, who scored nine points and led the team with eight assists.

Johnson and Bilodeau both play in the front court, making it a high likelihood that a guard will fill the final spot.

Improvement Worries From Powell and Saraf

Outside of Dëmin, the second-year guards played a rough game against Sacramento. Powell went 0-for-9 from the field and 0-for-5 from deep, only scoring four points on free throws. He did have eight rebounds and a steal, but his inability to be effective on offense will only hurt him.

Saraf scored 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting, but he didn't attempt a single three-pointer. He shot 21.1% from three last season, and it becomes increasingly difficult to be a reliable guard in the league without an outside shot. Saraf also only had one assist and turned over the ball three times. He was already in an uphill battle getting drafted behind Nolan Traoré and Dëmin, but with the addition of Brown, minutes will be nearly impossible to come by.

It's just one game, so the alarms aren't very loud yet. The worry is that even after seeing significant NBA minutes as rookies, they're still struggling mightily against lesser opponents.

Add us as a preferred source on Google