TORONTO — Egor Demin, the Nets’ first lottery pick in 15 years, will get his first taste of NBA competition Friday in Toronto.
The eighth overall pick, who has been sidelined due to a plantar fascia tear, makes his delayed debut in the preseason finale against the Raptors.
“So he’s been practicing based on the program that we’ve had for him. As you guys know, 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 Fernandez said Thursday. “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.”
Demin, a 19-year-old point guard from BYU, suffered the plantar fascia tear in July around the end of Las Vegas Summer League.
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 Demin — the 11th-youngest player in the league, and the Nets’ first lottery pick since Derrick Favors in 2010 — is set for his debut against Toronto.
Nets guard Egor Demin (8) at Media Day. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
But Fernandez doesn’t want to heap too much pressure on his lithe shoulders.
“Yeah 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,” Fernandez said.
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
“Obviously, I’m going to ask him things like I ask everybody else as far as doing certain things with purpose, and play really hard and use his superpowers. 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.”
The Nets took a record five players in the first round in June, including two other first-round point guards in Nolan Traore at No. 19 and Ben Saraf at No. 26, both taken with selections Brooklyn got in the Mikal Bridges trade with the Knicks.
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While Saraf had 11 assists in last weekend’s preseason win over Phoenix and Traore has started two of their three preseason contests, Demin now gives them three healthy rookie point guards.
It leads to the obvious questions of how the trio will coexist and split minutes, and how much time any of them will spend off the ball.
“Yeah, I don’t have a crystal ball, so I don’t know if I can answer the question,” Fernandez demurred. “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. 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.”