Brooklyn Nets guard Nolan Traore came into the NBA as the 19th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and despite being the Nets’ second pick, he still figures heavily in the rebuild. Brooklyn saw some good and bad moments out of Traore in the Las Vegas Summer League in July, but what should the team want to see out of him in the upcoming 2025-26 season?
“Mixed bag. I didn’t think he got the opportunities within the game that I would want to see for my first-round pick on-ball guy,” Bryce Simon said on the “Game Theory” podcast earlier this summer. The podcast, which Simons co-hosts with The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, took a look at how the rookies from every team performed in Vegas, but it seems like Traore’s play was somewhere in the middle.
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“Shot-making was dreadful. I thought he had some creative attempts of finesse finishes at the rim,” Simon continued. “I think Traore is okay defensively. That was kind of it. I wanted to see more, I wanted more minutes, more on-ball opportunities. I’m beating a dead horse at this point with this conversation, but that’s where I landed on Traore.”
Traore, 19, finished the summer league with averages of 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 30.4% from the field and 14.3% from three-point land. While Traore had some nice plays over the course of his time in Las Vegas, he also had plenty of issues finding his spots on the floor that he can excel at along with taking care of the ball in general.
Traore not only had a dismal effective field-goal percentage of 32.6%, but he also had just a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio, showing how his decision-making still needs some work as he acclimates to the NBA. The good news is that Traore should have plenty of chances over the course of the upcoming season to learn how to play the point guard position and hopefully, Brooklyn can see improvements from him in those weaker categories.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: What do the Nets need to see from Nolan Traore in the 2025-26 season?