LAS VEGAS — The Brooklyn Nets came into the 2025 Las Vegas Summer League knowing that they would have plenty to evaluate while the team is in Sin City. Brooklyn exited the 2025 NBA Draft with five rookies, four of whom are known for their ball-handling abilities. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez and assistant Steve Hetzel gave their takes on how the players are developing.
“I don’t believe so. This is the way our roster is constructed. The league is now multiple ball-handlers, multiple attackers,” Hetzel, the head coach of Brooklyn’s summer league team, said following Thursday’s 90-81 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Hetzel was giving his opinion over whether having so many ball-handlers on the team will also stunt the growth of all of the rookies.
“If you look at the team that just won the championship, they’ve got Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that can both put the ball in the paint,” Hetzel continued while mentioning that the Thunder have thrived having multiple ball-handlers on the floor at the same time. “We feel like the more people that we can have attacking and making plays, the better we are.”
Coming into the summer league, the Nets had plans to integrate rookies Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, and Ben Saraf along with forwards Drake Powell and Danny Wolf into the game after taking all five players in the Draft, an NBA record. With the exception of Powell, the other four rookies have experience running an offense and will most likely compete for chances to play with the ball in their hands. Fernandez understands what he’s trying to achieve.
“Once again, I think the process will be important to follow how everything unfolds. But, having a primary ball handler and then guys that can play second side pick-and-roll or make decisions is important,” Fernandez said after Saturday’s practice in preparation for Sunday’s game against Tre Johnson and the Washington Wizards. “we have a group of young guys that have really high IQ and they’re really good playmakers.”
Powell did not play against Oklahoma City on Thursday, but the other four rookies saw a solid amount of playing time with Traore leading the quartet with 26 minutes played. Traore had the best performance of the rookies that were available as he put up 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists, showing that he was ready to play in this environment from the beginning.