Egor Demin: When Potential Meets Opportunity

By OneNumberHoops – November 13, 2025

The Nets drafted a 6-foot-9 experiment with the 8th overall pick in this year’s draft: Egor Demin.
Demin came to Brooklyn with a clear label. A guy with elite vision, a questionable jumper, and not much burst. This is the type of jumbo creator that scouts argue about for months.
So far, he looks like a good example of what happens when a team actually gives that kind of player a real runway.

Draft expectations and comparisons

Predraft consensus told us Demin was one of the best passers in the class and one of the most polarizing prospects among the group. Most scouting reports put him in the same archetype as Josh Giddey and Anthony Black: a jumbo primary ball handler with elite vision, questionable shooting and limited burst. Some guys pushed the comp even further by calling him a “twitchier Giddey” or mentioning a Shaun Livingston type of outcome if his midrange game developed.
The expectation was clear for him. If the shot and paint pressure never came, he would top out as a secondary handler. If they improved even to league average, his size and passing gave him a real chance to outperform a typical No. 8 pick and become a long term starter.

Rewriting The Shooting Story

You would not have expected Demin to open his NBA career as a confident, high volume shooter from deep if you took a look at his college stats, but so far that’s what he’s been.
In Summer League, he only played 3 games but went 10-23 from three. Then in October, his first two regular season games he went 7-11 from three, tying Keegan Murray for the third most threes by a rookie through two games in league history and posting one of the best early season percentages among players taking at least 5.5 attempts. In those games he didn’t take a single shot inside the arc, he didn’t even attempt a 2-pointer until his fifth NBA game.

Demin did not sound surprised when asked about the contrast with his reputation.

“I have never questioned my shot. Back in college, I have been shooting, and I will be shooting,” he told the New York Post.

So far, through 10 games, he’s averaging 7.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists while seeing 20.8 minutes a game. This is coming on a field goal percentage of 39%, 3 point percentage of 37.5% (4.8 3PA) and a free throw percentage of 83%. That doesn’t completely get rid of the pre-draft concerns, but it matters that defenses have to respect him above the break and it shows Brooklyn is comfortable with him pulling when he’s open.
For a player whose value depends on being playable both on and off the ball, that’s a significant early step.

The Next Step

The jumper is only part of Demin’s development curve. The other piece is what he and his coaches keep bringing up: paint touches.
Early in the season, his shot chart was extreme. At one point he had not taken a single two point attempt in the regular season, while going 19-37 from three dating back to Summer League. Almost all of his offense came on spot up and pull up threes, which is not enough for a guard who wants to command an offense.

Demin has been clear about this in interviews.

“This is where my playmaking can be on a different level, when I get to the paint more, especially with the shooters we have,” he said in late October. “We have a lot of shooters, and for me getting to the paint is an opportunity to make their lives easier.”

Since then, incremental changes have been seen. After four games with no twos, he started to use ball screens to attack drop coverage, sneak in floaters and finish a few layups. He just had a career night against Toronto on November 11 where he finished with 16/4/5, with four threes and some mixed in drives off screens for layups and free throws.
He is still a work in progress, but Demin has talked about courage and mentality as much as skill. He knows he needs more aggression and comfort against contact. If that part comes, his passing profile can scale in a way that box score points don’t fully capture.

Opportunity

There is also the simple fact that Demin is getting to try this in real games.
The Nets are coming off a 26 win season and are clearly in a rebuild. They drafted five rookies in 2025, three of them point guards: Demin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf. On paper that is the kind of environment where a teenager can get squeezed by competition and veteran priorities.

So far, the opposite has happened. Cam Thomas’ hamstring injury opened up a spot in the starting lineup and that role was given to Demin and he has been kept there so far.
Across his first three starts he averaged 11.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists in about 25 minutes, on 48% from the field and 47% from three, with only 1.7 turnovers. Coach Jordi Fernandez has praised his aggression and passing while also making clear that defense and consistency are the next areas of emphasis.

“We all believe that he belongs,” he said after the Toronto game. “The challenge now is sustaining it… and then, on the defensive end, being more efficient and learning from his minutes.”

In a different situation, a guard who went several games without a two point attempt and then hit a cold stretch from three might disappear from the rotation. But in Brooklyn, Demin has kept the ball in his hands and stayed on the floor while the staff uses his mistakes as teaching reps.
For a player whose value depends as much on feel and reads as on volume scoring, that kind of leash is a big part of the story.

Big Picture

Nothing about a 10 game sample can paint us a perfect picture of Demin’s long term outcome. His handle still needs to tighten against pressure, he still has to adjust to NBA physicality at the rim, and his lateral quickness on defense is not going to suddenly turn him into a stopper.
But the key early boxes are checked.
The passing looks real in NBA spacing, his shot has been good enough that teams can’t simply ignore him, and he’s handled a move into the starting lineup without looking overwhelmed. And his coach and teammates keep emphasizing his poise and work ethic.

The tools were visible in Moscow, Madrid, and Provo. But the opportunity is here in Brooklyn. How often those two things line up is the real question for players like Egor Demin.
Right now, he has a big runway with lots of meaningful minutes coming his way. It should be super exciting to see how he continues to settle into the league.