The Brooklyn Nets will be heading into the 2026-27 NBA season with one of the youngest backcourts in the league, depending on who starts at point guard next to guard Egor Demin. Brooklyn selected Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft this summer and if he pans out, could the Nets have the best backcourt in the league pretty soon?
"Those who kept an eye on Brooklyn's summer league squads surely had a chance to overindulge on optimism surrounding this year's No. 6 pick Mikel Brown Jr. and last year's No. 8 pick Egor Demin," Zach Buckley wrote on the Nets for Bleacher Report. The article in question in addressing various overreactions to each of the 30 NBA teams and for the Nets, most of the attention
is focused on their young backcourt.
"Between the former's flashy play style and the latter's ability to utilize his added muscle, they raised expectations by the minute and even gained a shared nickname along the way," Buckley continued. "Excitement is fine (and fully warranted), but it still needs to stay within reason. This guard group has an undeniable chance to be awesome, but it remains only a possibility."
In this piece, it seems that Buckley is trying to pump the brakes on the potential backcourt pairing of Brown and Demin and it's fair to do so in the early going. Demin is coming off a solid rookie season while showing some growth in the summer league circuit this offseason while Brown displayed some promise during his lone season of college basketball at the University of Louisville.
As most in the NBA space know, the NBA is hard on young guards, especially point guards, so Brown and Demin will have to continue growing as players if they're going to reach their potential. Anything is possible, but time will tell how good Brown and Demin will be in a few years and even if they're not the best backcourt in the Association when that time comes, all that matters is whether they're productive or not.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Could the Nets have the best backcourt in the NBA in the next 5 years?
