NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets rookie forward Joshua Jefferson is heading into his first NBA season with the opportunity of seeing meaningful minutes for one of the youngest teams in the league. Brooklyn selected Jefferson with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft due to his intangibles and experience in college basketball, but he explained how the Nets are allowing him to play his game.
"I think that's a big part of who I am as a player: creating for others, making the job easier and getting open shots for my teammates. It's going to change a little bit with the amount of weapons that we have," Jefferson during his Media Day interview on Monday. Jefferson is one of the players that should see some development at both the NBA and G League
level as the team attempts to maximize his versatile skillset.
"So just getting it off the glass and then pushing in transition and then just playing out of closeouts and stuff like that is how I'm going to continue to integrate my game," Jefferson continued. "So just making quick decisions with the ball, I probably won't have the ball as much as I did in college. So, I just understand [that I] got to be effective in the opportunities that I get."
Jefferson, 22, is coming off a 2025-26 season in which he averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 47.1% from the field and 34.5% from behind the three-point line. Coming into the draft, Jefferson was regarded as a player that could do multiple things as a power forward, including his ability to create scoring opportunities for his teammates within a 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame.
"Jefferson excelled at the college level as a playmaking forward with great size. He orchestrated Iowa State’s offense out of the pick-and-roll, attacked closeouts hard and used his vision to find open teammates anywhere on the court. Jefferson makes an impact defensively as well," according to his draft profile on NBA.com. Jefferson will have to earn his minutes through training camp and the preseason, but he already knows what he's able to do once he gets on the floor.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Joshua Jefferson details how important his versatility will be
