NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets rookie forward Drake Powell has worked himself into head coach Jordi Fernandez’s rotation since earlier in the season as he continues to show what he’s capable of. Brooklyn has been trying to play better basketball so that the winning can come with more regularity and Powell is one of the players that Fernandez is trying to get more out of.

“It was obviously some of the things that I’ve heard before with my player development coach and even when I was younger going through AAU,” Powell said when asked for his reaction to Fernandez challenging him and fellow rookie Egor Demin following Friday’s 119-111 loss at the Dallas Mavericks. Powell played just three minutes off the bench in Dallas due to his lack of “readiness to play,” but he made up for it in Sunday’s 127-82 win against the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I respect him [Fernandez] from that because it just shows that he cares not only about me as a basketball player, but [also] as a human being. Yeah, that was big for me,” Powell continued while explaining how Fernandez’s tough love can be helpful to him in his development as a player. The former North Carolina Tar Heel has not amassed eye-popping numbers, but it’s clear that he has proven his viability as an NBA player.

Powell, 20, is averaging 6.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 48.8% from the field and 37.8% from behind the three-point line in 18 games played. Powell, the 22nd overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft that the Nets acquired via trade along with forward Terance Mann, has work to do with his offensive game, but he has already shown that he can be an effective defender at the NBA level, even just as a rookie.

“It just goes back to watching film and digesting it with the team,” Powell said when asked how he has been able to make an impact on the defensive end of the floor so early in his career. “As well as individually with my player development coach, I think that if I continue to do that, I think it [his game] will continue to expand as well.” Brooklyn’s next game is Thursday at Barclays Center against the Miami Heat.