Brooklyn Nets rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. was not in contention for going to the Washington Wizards with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft prior to joining the Nets. Most of the noise related to the draft centered around AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, but Brooklyn believes that they may have come away with the best player in the class with the No. 6 pick.
"You’re probably going to hear this about every guy, including A.J. (Dybantsa) at No. 1, but we feel like Mikel is the steal of the draft," a Nets front-office executive said of Brown, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac. Brown had some hype around him coming into the draft, especially after he boosted his draft stock during the NBA Combine in May where he showed his skillset along
with how much he recovered from his nagging back injury.
"He was a little wild here (at Summer League) and in California (at California Classic Summer League), but that’ll round out with time," the front-office executive continued on Brown before explaining how much the veteran presence on the team will help him improve. "Having him go against Keon (Ellis) and Terance (Mann) every day in practice is going to be huge for him."
Brown, 20, had a slow start to the summer circuit as he played just one of the three games that the Nets played in the California Classic, a game in which he put up 10 points and four assists on just 36.4% shooting from the field. However, Brown showed more of the ability that had many scouts fantasizing about his potential during his time in Las Vegas as he averaged 16.7 points, 4.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 39.5% from the floor and 33.3% from behind the three-point line.
While Brown was not regarded by most scouts/pundits to be as promising of a prospect as the aforementioned Dybantsa and Peterson, he was still taken with the No. 6 pick to be in a position to be Brooklyn's point guard of the future. Brown's rookie season will show how much of his potential he'll be able to realize from the beginning, but no matter what happens, it seems that the Nets' front-office is already sold on him and his future.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets FO exec discusses Mikel Brown Jr. being steal of 2026 NBA Draft
