Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin had a solid rookie season where he showed that head coach Jordi Fernandez could depend on him to be a valuable member of the rotation moving forward. After Brooklyn saw that Demin was able to shoot the three-point shot better than he did in his lone college at BYU, this season will be about him taking the next step in his game.
Demin, 20, is coming off a 2025-26 season in which he averaged 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 39.9% from the field and 38.5% from behind the three-point line. Demin followed that up by averaging 21.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 47.3% from the floor and 28.9% from deep.
Demin will likely be the third option within
the offense after the Nets added former Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle to the roster to pair with sharpshooting forward Michael Porter Jr. Even if that is the case, Demin still has the chance to prove that he can be a vital piece of one of the youngest teams in the league so here are three goals for him heading into training camp:
Continue To Vary Scoring Methods
While Demin had a solid rookie season for the Nets, most of his scoring came from behind the three-point line as he averaged 8.6 field-goal attempts per game and 6.2 of those came from deep. While Demin will be asked to stretch the floor around Porter and Randle, he should also take the chance to be as much of a three-level scorer as possible and he showed the ability to do so during summer league play.
Expand Playmaking Acumen
Heading into the 2025 NBA Draft, Demin was heralded by some to be one of the best passing prospects to come into the league in recent memory, but he didn't show too much of those passing chops last season. Assuming that Demin is in the starting lineup, he will be sharing ball-handling duties with Randle and Mikel Brown Jr., but he should look to assert himself through his playmaking as well.
Put It All Together
While Demin's performance in the summer league this time around was encouraging because of how he was getting downhill to score at the rim and/or get to the free-throw line, he still shot poorly from deep by his standards. If Demin can find a way to maintain his rim pressure while shooting closer to 40.0% from deep, he'll be a force to be reckoned with this season.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets 3 goals: Egor Demin has to be more of a scorer, passer this year
