{"id":257622,"date":"2026-06-06T17:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T17:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/257622\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T17:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T17:29:38","slug":"two-second-round-prospects-for-the-brooklyn-nets-in-the-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/257622\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Second-Round Prospects for the Brooklyn Nets in the 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">All of the attention will be on the Brooklyn Nets&#8217; 2026 lottery pick. With the sixth overall selection in the NBA Draft, this kickstarts one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/nets\/onsi\/nba-s-draft-lottery-reform-is-forcing-the-brooklyn-nets-to-escape-the-rebuild\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">most important offseasons<\/a> in franchise history.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">There&#8217;s a lot of debate on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/nets\/onsi\/brooklyn-nets-facing-a-dilemma-with-the-no-6-pick-in-2026-nba-draft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">who the Nets will take at No. 6<\/a>. The consensus prospects in that range include Darius Acuff Jr., Keaton Wagler and Kingston Flemings, but recent rumors and reports have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/nets\/onsi\/what-to-make-of-the-nets-being-linked-to-nate-ament-in-the-2026-nba-draft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">linked Brooklyn to Nate Ament<\/a> and Aday Mara.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">However, many forget the Nets have two second-round picks (No. 33 and No. 43). The depth of this class dwindled as many prospects returned to college, but there are still plenty of high-upside players in the backend of the draft. Here are three prospects Brooklyn could take in round two:<\/p>\n<p>Zuby Ejiofor, St. John&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">Ejiofor could remain in New York City after a stellar final season at St. John&#8217;s. As a 6-foot-9 big man, there are concerns as to whether or not he can space the floor, posting 54-31-72 shooting splits this year. However, 16.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game is nothing to scoff at.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">Ejiofor could be a two-way force for the Nets at the power forward position, playing next to floor spacers in Egor Demin, Michael Porter Jr. and Nolan Traore. He can score inside the arc, rebound at a solid level and guard multiple positions on the other end. The 22-year-old has experience playing under the bright lights in a major market.<\/p>\n<p>Sergio de Larrea, Valencia<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">Sergio de Larrea is an interesting prospect, because he could have snuck into the top 30 last year. His EuroLeague numbers were disappointing this season, but he was a solid contributor in Liga ACB play, averaging 9.7 points, three rebounds and 3.7 assists in just 18.3 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Remember, these European teams don&#8217;t give young guys time just because they may be NBA Draft prospects.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">In the NBA, de Larrea could develop into a multi-dimensional forward to develop under Porter. The 20-year-old shot 40.5% from three this season, and it&#8217;s hard to ignore a 6-foot-6 prospect with a near-6-foot-10 wingspan.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">Whichever direction Brooklyn takes, the young talent in this draft has the chance to help change the direction of the franchise. There&#8217;s more riding on that lottery pick, but the Nets can never have too much youth, at least during the rebuilding stage. Ejiofor and de Larrea are prospects that should get more attention.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All of the attention will be on the Brooklyn Nets&#8217; 2026 lottery pick. With the sixth overall selection&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-257622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}