TORONTO — Egor Dëmin, the first Nets lottery pick in 15 years, will get his first taste of NBA competition Friday in Toronto.
The No. 8 pick, who has been sidelined with a foot injury, makes his delayed debut in the preseason finale against the Raptors.
“He’s been practicing based on the program that we’ve had for him. It’s been a ramp-up and he’s been able to play five-on-five, and now he’s ready to see the floor,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said. “So, good news is [Friday] he’ll have some minutes. And that’s exciting. I’m excited for him. He’s done a great job and now we’re ready to take the next step.”
Dëmin, a 19-year-old point guard from BYU, suffered a plantar fascia tear in July.
The 6-foot-9 Russian missed the first three games of the preseason before getting cleared for full contact practice while the Nets were in Macao.
Now Dëmin — the 11th-youngest player in the league — is set to debut in Toronto. But Fernández doesn’t want to heap too much pressure on his lithe shoulders.
“I don’t have too much [expectation] for him as far as he doesn’t need to feel much pressure or anything. I want him to enjoy his first minutes,” Fernández said. “Obviously I’m going to ask him things like I ask everybody else as far as doing things with purpose, and play really hard and use his super powers — that’s his passing and shooting and his size. But don’t overthink it. I don’t want him to try to analyze everything, and just go out there and have fun.”
Among the record five first-round picks by the Nets were point guards Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf. Traore has started two of Brooklyn’s three preseason tilts, while Saraf handed out 11 assists in Sunday’s win over Phoenix. But both struggled at times against NBA-level ball pressure.
Nets guard Egor Demin (8) at Media Day. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
“Nolan and Ben could feel it, and that’s always a good learning process,” Fernández said. “And it’s going to keep happening. We’re going to have to keep helping them. But that’s going to force them to take the next step, and the next step after, and so on and so forth.
“So, very happy so far [with] what they bring to the group. Very happy to bring, now, Egor into the mix. And they all feel like they have to compete really hard, and most important take advantage of their minutes.”
Throwing Dëmin into that mix Friday vs. the Raptors begs the obvious questions of how the trio will coexist and split those minutes, and how much time any of them will spend off the ball.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, so I don’t know if I can answer the question,” Fernández deflected. “What I’m very excited about is seeing how that process is going to go. They’re all going to fight for some of the same minutes.
Egor Demin #8 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles the ball during the game against the Orlando Magic during the 2025 NBA Summer League. NBAE via Getty Images
“They’re all going to fight for some of the wing minutes. But right now for sure the starting point guard and backup point guard, those three are fighting for those minutes. And that’s great because we’re going to see a lot of the young talent we drafted playing real NBA minutes.”
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Critics have wondered whether Dëmin can shoot well enough to thrive off the ball, having hit just 27.3 percent from deep at BYU. But drilling 16 straight 3-pointers in just 35 seconds at his pro day and hitting 43.5 percent in Summer League on heavy volume suggested he’s a better shooter than advertised.
Friday he gets to start showing it.
“He’s got the whole package, from dribbling, shooting, being active, running the floor. The only thing he needs — and I guess it’s just because he’s young and grew up in Europe — he needs to be more aggressive,” ex-Net Andrei Kirilenko told The Post. “But with him, what I see, if he would be more aggressive [but] keep this angle to involve his teammates, he would be positive. He’d be awesome.”