NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets are just four games into their 2026-27 NBA season that they hope will be better than what they put forth during the 2025-26 campaign record-wise. Brooklyn has been trying to correct enough of their issues to hopefully win their first game of the season sooner than later, but the Nets made sure to take care of business with some of their youngest players.
The Nets announced on Thursday that they exercised the third-year team options for their entire 2025 NBA Draft class heading into Friday's NBA Cup game against the visiting Detroit Pistons. Brooklyn selected five players in the 2025 draft: guard Egor Demin, guard Nolan Traore, forward Drake Powell, guard Ben Saraf, and forward Danny Wolf and now, the quintet is under
contract for the 2027-28 season.
"We brought them in for a reason. Obviously, picking up options is part of the management, but [it's] the belief on development and the type of people that we bring in," Fernandez said after Thursday's practice about the franchise's announcement. Brooklyn exercising the team options on the entire class was interesting given that only Demin and Traore have been seeing regular rotation minutes at this point in the season.
"We've been together for a little over a year and we believe that every single one of them has a future in this league. Everybody's got different paths to get there and that's okay. But, so far, I think that just proves that we believe in the process," Fernandez continued. While Demin and Traore have proven enough to see NBA minutes on a daily basis, Powell, Saraf, and Wolf will have to continue doing the work in the G League and in practice.
Demin will be out of action for the next week while he rehabs from a right leg bone bruise that he suffered in Tuesday's 125-124 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics, but Traore could just be hitting his stride. Traore entered the starting lineup for Tuesday's matchup against the Celtics and if he continues to produce, he and Demin could be starting together once the former BYU Cougar returns. With that being said, the entire "Flatbush Five" will be in Brooklyn next season.
Nets coach Jordi Fernandez on the team picking up the third-year team options on the entire 2025 class:
— Sharif Phillips-Keaton (@SharifKeaton) October 29, 2026
"We brought them in for a reason. Obviously, picking up options is part of the management, but it's the belief on development and the type of people that we bring in." https://t.co/nhRmGwwFM8
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets exercise third-year team options on their 2025 NBA Draft class
