{"id":284736,"date":"2026-07-02T11:26:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/284736\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:26:51","slug":"egor-demin-seeks-connection-with-nets-2026-top-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/284736\/","title":{"rendered":"Egor Demin seeks connection with Nets’ 2026 top draft pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Egor D\u00ebmin, the offseason checklist<\/a> is simple, if not easy:<\/p>\n

Win the Summer League, build a backcourt connection with rookie Mikel Brown Jr. and ride that into the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing, the goal of the whole team is win Summer League,\u201d D\u00ebmin said. \u201cMy goal is to benefit that as much as I can and bring the biggest impact I can.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd building a connection with the whole team, especially the rookies. With Mikel to be on the court as much as we can together and work this whole thing through before we actually start playing in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season, the Nets made D\u00ebmin their first lottery pick in 15 years, then drafted another guard with the sixth pick last month. <\/p>\n

But their skill sets not only aren\u2019t redundant, they are actually complementary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can obviously play together,\u201d coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cEgor provides gravity and elite shooting, obviously ballhandling too. And Mikel, more of a primary ballhandler, very good athlete, scorer, too. So we\u2019re gonna obviously see it in Summer League, but I don\u2019t see any problems with them playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

There had better not be. The Nets have largely staked their rebuild on the pair not only being able to survive but thrive playing together.<\/p>\n

\"EgorEgor D\u00ebmin, celebrating during a game last season, says he\u2019s looking to build a connection with Mikel Brown, Jr., the Nets\u2019 2026 top pick. Heather Khalifa for New York Post<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin is better suited off the ball, and his shooting should accentuate Brown\u2019s athleticism and downhill juice. With D\u00ebmin recovered from a plantar fascia injury, the pairing will get their first look together in the California Summer League or ensuing Las Vegas Summer League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love [the fit],\u201d D\u00ebmin said. \u201c[His skills] are going to benefit my game. It\u2019s going to be important to be dialed in with my shooting, and having a guy like this by my side who\u2019s going to get all the defense on him, get to the paint, this is where we can benefit from each other. He shoots the lights out, so for me bringing the ball up sometimes \u2014 playing something for him or looking for opportunities in transition \u2014 that\u2019s something we could really build on. We could be a special combo.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"NetsNets top draft pick Mikel Brown speaks to the media during an NBA Draft press conference at the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center on June 29, 2026. Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n

For his part, D\u00ebmin swatted away questions about the plantar fascia injury that ended his rookie campaign, saying he\u2019s fine. He\u2019s added 13 to 15 pounds from last year, strength that could help him get downhill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re about to find out. But being on balance, touching the paint and playing off two feet, you need that strength. He\u2019s done an unbelievable job working in the weight room,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe looks more like a grown-up, and he\u2019s going to do things way better than he did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cA hundred percent,\u201d D\u00ebmin agreed. \u201cThat was one of the main focus of on-court work we\u2019ve done this summer, is to use what I learned in the lifting room, make sure I use it and get these habits of being more aggressive looking for the gaps and going to the paint, trying to get on the rim more. \u2026 That was the main focus, to get used to the contact and get into the paint.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Egor D\u00ebmin, the offseason checklist is simple, if not easy: Win the Summer League, build a backcourt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,5235,106110,21,23657,9,24,63,319],"class_list":["post-284736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-egor-demin","tag-mikel-brown-jr","tag-nba","tag-nba-summer-league","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284736","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=284736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}