Nets’ Egor Demin impresses in pre-season debut: ‘He’ll be a problem’
There were some question marks around it Egor Deminis making the rounds ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, and rightly so.
Demin shot just 27.3 percent from three during his lone season of college basketball at BYU, causing many scouts to be hesitant about how his shooting would translate to the NBA. But that didn’t scare the Nets, who saw the star’s upside potential in his game and selected him with the No. 8 overall pick in June.
Although he is still early in his professional career, Demin demonstrated his skills on Friday night in his pre-season debut against the Toronto Raptors. The 19-year-old, who missed the team’s first three preseason games with a torn plantar fascia, scored 14 points with five rebounds and one assist in 19 minutes off the bench.
The performance earned him praise from his teammates Michael Porter Jr. (34 points) e Cam Thomas (seven points), who believe the 6-foot-9 rookie can make a real impact in the NBA.
"Oh, yes, it’s solid. He’ll be really good," Porter Jr. told the New York Post. "Positionally, for his size, if he can transfer all those point guard skills to the pros, it’s going to be a problem.
"He makes the right reads and the right plays. So I know it might take him some time to get to grips with the physicality of the point guard position in the NBA, but once he gets the hang of it, he’ll be really, really good."
the tower rises confidently! 🎯@whoisegor3 | #NetsWorldpic.twitter.com/6GJIxez3Bt
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 18, 2025
Demin’s 14 points came on 3-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three-point range and 6-of-7 on free throws. 11 of his 14 points came in the first half, including all missed shots. He also recorded a block and committed two turnovers in the 119-114 loss.
"It was fantastic. It was fantastic. Obviously we’re in the preseason, but he was good in his first game," Thomas said. "We’ll see what happens with Charlotte, but it was definitely a great start for him."
While Demin is still trying to regain all his strength after his foot injury, as he only started playing five-on-five while the team was in China, the coach Jordi Fernandez he was satisfied with what he saw from the guard Friday night.
"It was excellent," Fernandez said. "There will be things he continues to work on. We need to continue to strengthen him physically to be able to sustain more minutes. … But I’m very happy with his presence, how composed he was, how he talked to his teammates, all those things. And he made it look easy.
"He shot the ball whenever it was open or half-open, got to the free throw line and rebounded. He grabbed five rebounds and made nice plays at the rim. It was nice."
Demin added that his first NBA action was a great learning experience and he will take those lessons with him into the regular season.
"Yes, 100%. They talked to me a lot about the Raptors as one of the most physical and longest teams in terms of pressure for almost the entire game, and how annoying they are," Demin said. "I don’t want to say I was scared, but I was super aware of what to expect. But I couldn’t even figure out what to expect from my first game… so I’m just happy that I got through that and had this experience. It’s a great lesson for all of us and I can’t wait for the season to start."