Prospect to Pro: The Making of Nets Big Man Egor Demin

At just 15 years old, Egor Demin had decided he was going to pursue basketball at the highest level. While teenagers around him were just discovering passions and hobbies, he had his sights on the NBA, a career path over 5,000 miles away. 

At 19, it was no longer a dream. It was reality. Combining his international experience with a relentless work ethic, Demin was selected as the eighth overall pick by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2025 NBA Draft. 

Growing up in Moscow, Russia, basketball was never too far away. Both Demin’s parents helped develop his skills through their own experience with the sport. Vladimir Demin represented Russia on the national team and continued a professional career up until Egor was born. His mother, Natalia Demin, played competitively until she was 18 and is credited as the first person who pushed Egor to give the game his full attention if that's what he wanted to pursue. 

“I had the moment where I heard my mom saying, Hey, if you really like it, then respect it. Put effort into this. And if you really want to play basketball, then try to be the best in it,” he said. “And this is the moment when I kind of started to take it serious.”

Demin learned early that to level up his game, he would have to make some big sacrifices. He ventured to Spain in 2021 to join Real Madrid’s youth program on a six-year contract. Playing for the junior A team and Real Madrid B, by the 2023-24 season, he was averaging 15.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists as a point guard. 

At 6-foot-9, his ability to facilitate the game and handle the ball at the point was garnering attention from top colleges in the United States. Over offers from Illinois, Arkansas, Duke, and UConn, Demin accepted an offer to play for the Brigham Young University Cougars as a five-star recruit. This choice was heavily influenced by his wish to play under a coach with NBA experience, which is something that BYU could provide tenfold.

Who can prepare me better than an NBA coach?” Demin said. 

“Besides Young, they had an NBA strength and conditioning coach. They had a nutritionist from the NBA. We had a mental coach from the NBA. Everybody’s like, Provo, Utah, is so boring. I’m like, You play basketball there, man!”

Head Coach Kevin Young got into the coaching business in 2004 at Oxford College and never looked back, most notably holding the title of Associate Head Coach for the Phoenix Suns at the time of their historic Finals run. His plan, as he took the helm, was to instill fundamentals that would turn the program into an NBA pipeline. 

In his only season at BYU, Demin averaged 10.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 5.5 assists over the course of 33 games. Those numbers earned him Big 12 All-Freshman Team honors and an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, and he declared for the draft in April 2025. He also broke the school’s record for most assists by a freshman with 180 on the season. 

Making history by being drafted as a part of the “Flatbush Five,” Demin was the first player selected by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2025 NBA Draft. He was projected to be a potential centerpiece of Brooklyn’s rebuild due to his court vision and high-level passing, in addition to his positional size. 

Not only did this make him the first Russian-born player drafted since Sergey Karasev in 2013, but it also made him one of only two active Russian players in the NBA. This milestone reflected his individual success, personal journey, and his growing significance to Russian basketball.

The 2025-2626 season surprisingly saw him become one of the best rookie shooters in the NBA. Demin took his struggling 27.3% 3-point shooting percentage from his days at BYU and turned it into an NBA-caliber number at 38.5%. His season ended early due to a plantar fasciitis injury in his foot, but he still managed to reach 100 made threes in just 41 games, making him the second fastest rookie to do so. 

Head Coach Jordi Fernandez knew the standard that Demin held himself to and aimed to reinforce it throughout the season.

“I want more paint touches. I want more assists. I want more physicality on both ends,” Fernandez said. “He’s gonna try to do his best. That’s a good thing about our young guys.”

Demin averaged 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, leading his fellow rookies in points and minutes per game. He also recorded seven 3-pointers in a game against the Golden State Warriors, setting the Nets franchise record for most made in a single game by a rookie.

Going into the 2026-27 season, Demin is still one of the youngest players in the NBA. With his second season in front of him, the expectations and pressure surrounding him will continue to grow. There’s no denying the ambition and sacrifice that brought him to this point. Now, the challenge will be proving that his rookie season was not the peak of his potential, but merely the foundation for what comes next.

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