The Brooklyn Nets came into the 2025-26 NBA season with an interesting situation as they selected five players in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft in June. Not only that, but Brooklyn is still in the early stages of its rebuild so getting the most out of its young players is imperative to the long-term success of the franchise, regardless of what the 2026 Draft looks like.

One of the constant themes of this season is how much playing time is being allotted to the rookies in Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Danny Wolf, and Ben Saraf. As of this writing, Demin, Powell, and Wolf rank seventh, ninth, and 10th on the team in minutes played per game while Saraf and Traore rank 11th and 14th on the roster in the middle of December.

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One Nets fan on X lamented that Traore was given just nine minutes in Friday’s 119-111 loss at the Dallas Mavericks after being called up by Brooklyn following an excellent stint in the G League for Long Island. Given how head coach Jordi Fernandez has handled the rotation to this point in the season, it wasn’t surprising to see Traore not get more minutes given that Fernandez wants his most experienced players with the ball in their hands.

That does beg the question of whether Fernandez, general manager Sean Marks, and the Nets are doing the right thing by running the rotation as is without regard for giving more playing time to the rookies. In comparison with their own draft class, the Nets rookies aren’t as much playing time. Demin ranks 11th in the 2025 class in terms of minutes per game (22.9), putting him well behind players like Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe (35.0), Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel (34.0), and Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (33.7).

The argument that Fernandez has made is that while he is trying to play his rookies as much as possible, he isn’t giving them more playing time than they can handle, especially when wins are becoming harder to come by as a result. While Brooklyn isn’t the only team in the league trying to develop multiple rookies at the same time, they are the only one seeking to develop five players at the same time, especially with three of them playing the point guard spot.

Ultimately, one could criticize Fernandez for not playing some of the other rookies enough, especially given how important each of them are to the overall goal of the Nets developing home-grown, elite talent. However, considering what Nets fans have already seen from players like Demin, Powell, and Wolf 25 games into the season, one could also argue that Fernandez is doing the right thing by not rushing the rookies.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Are the Nets making a mistake with playing time for their rookies?