The Brooklyn Nets have landed in Sacramento, gearing up for the California Classic with a squad of rookies, sophomores, and fringe NBA players looking to make an impression during this extended summer showcase. This means that Nets fans are dying to get their first look at Mikel Brown Jr. and Tyler Bilodeau (but mostly Mikel), as each officially signed his NBA contract on Thursday night…
Bilodeau, as previously reported, accepted a two-year contract, while the #28 overall pick, Joshua Jefferson, cannot officially sign with Brooklyn until July 6 at the earliest, when the Minnesota-Brooklyn trade is finalized. This also means Jefferson will not play in the California Classic on July 4, 5, or 6.
Unfortunately, you may want to temper expectations for the other guys as well.
“We’re not going to do anything that will put their health in danger,” said Jordi Fernández before the team headed out West. “I think that we’ve proven that over and over. We have very good medical and performance staff, and right now, I don’t envision them playing all three games, because I think it’s back-to-back-to-back.”
Indeed it is…
Fernández did not comment on any specific young Net, though Nolan Traoré isn’t on the roster because he recently had his right knee scoped (and is expected to be ready for training camp.) Meanwhile, Grant Nelson, the leading candidate for Brooklyn’s final two-way spot, is rehabbing from an offseason procedure and won’t play in either league. Ultimately, it would not be surprising if Mikel Brown Jr. does not play in Sacramento at all — or if he only plays one game — and we miss out on the potential Brown Jr. vs. Darius Acuff showdown scheduled for July 4th.
But Egor Dëmin is still looking forward to a bright and productive future next to his new backcourt mate: “I met him in the very first day, right, I was at the draft, and he seems like he’s a very good guy, you know? I think we have a pretty good connection already, and it’s going to be built up throughout the whole summer, the summer league, the California tournament, and throughout training camp.”
Dëmin was much less eager to talk about his rehabbed plantar fasciitis. When asked if that bothered him during regular-season games last season, he merely said: “I’m good now. That’s all I’m worrying about.”
The 20-year-old offered the same scripted response when asked if was still rehabbing the injury or if it was fully in the past. Alas, it is summertime in the NBA, and that means it’s #MuscleWatch. Dëmin said he’s about 13-15 pounds heavier than this time last summer thanks to living in the weight room.
Said Fernández. “They look stronger, they’ve done a great job, and not just strong where they don’t move the same way. It’s stronger and it’s efficient, and I’m sure you guys have seen [the five sophomores]. All of them have done a very, very good job, and hard work pays off, and we’re gonna see it in summer league.”
Fernández was not allowed, per NBA rules, to discuss unofficial free agent signings just yet, including Day’Ron Sharpe and Josh Minott. However, there is one obvious question: How the heck is he going to find time for all these players?
When discussing the sophomore guards + Mikel Brown Jr., Fernández said: “Everything can happen. They’re all basketball players, they’re great playmakers, Ben is a very good defender, positional size, he can keep his chest in front of the ball. So, the good thing — the best thing — about the position that we are in right now, it’s healthy competition, and they all going to challenge each other.”
In many ways, nothing has changed since last summer, though “6400 minutes,” in reference to the amount of minutes played by rookies for the Brooklyn Nets in 2025-26 (an NBA record) has become a new talking point for GM Sean Marks and Fernández. But Brooklyn is no longer tanking. Even if they make another minor trade or two, there doesn’t seem to be plenty of real minutes for all of Ben Saraf, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Noah Clowney, and Danny Wolf, among others. Where is the line between development and winning games?
Marks predictably danced around this question last week, saying, “I think that’s our job to figure out between the staff in Long Island, the staff in Brooklyn. I mean, I think we did a really nice job of that last year, getting them real meaningful minutes. That was the goal to begin with, was not to just develop through practice. As we all know in the NBA season, what do you have, 25 practices a year? You’re not going to get better just doing that. So, you know, going up there and testing your skills against the best, that’s important, and I think there was no downtime last year.”
With that, the Nets head to SacTown. The major story is Mikel Brown Jr., if we’re gonna get to see him there or if we’ll have to wait until Las Vegas. Elsewhere, we’ll be looking for Danny Wolf to school his younger opponents, Ben Saraf to hit some jumpers, Egor Dëmin to get to the rack, and Drake Powell to expand(?) his game.
Nets vs. Kings is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday evening. If you have access to one of Gotham Sports, NBA TV, NBA League Pass, Amazon Prime, or ESPN+, you should able to catch the games.
