LAS VEGAS — The Brooklyn Nets broke an NBA-record by selecting five players in the 2025 NBA Draft and many around the league wondered if the Nets were going through the process in the correct way. Four of the five players that Brooklyn selected can handle the ball in some way, but the Nets don’t seem too concerned with two of their guards sharing the floor.
“A lot of people see them as being similar players, and that’s somewhat fair. But we think they can play together. Look at OKC and Indiana. They play a lot of ball-handlers and creators,” a Nets front-office executive said of guards Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf, per Spotrac’s Keith Smith. Traore and Saraf were regarded as players who can make things happen with the best in their hands, but may struggle to play off the ball due to the questions surrounding their shooting abilities.
“We’re not too worried about the shooting here (Summer League),” Smith continued. “Both guys just finished up their seasons overseas. They were both pretty wiped out.” It was clear following the conclusion of the 2025 NBA Draft that the Nets were leaning into the idea of having multiple players on the floor that can run the offense along with setting teammates up when needed.
While Brooklyn finished the Las Vegas Summer League with a disappointing 1-4 record, they did get the chance to see Traore and Saraf on the floor with guard Egor Demin and forward Danny Wolf. The results weren’t entirely encouraging given that time will tell which players will be on the ball more than others, but there were some instances in which one could see the vision of what Brooklyn is trying to build.
“This is the way our roster is constructed,” Nets summer league coach Steve Hetzel of the strategy while in Las Vegas. “The league is now multiple ball handlers, attackers. If you look at the team that just won the championship (Oklahoma City Thunder), they got Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that could both put the ball in the paint. We feel like the more people that we can have attacking and making plays, the better we are.”