{"id":651396,"date":"2026-03-10T19:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T19:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651396\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T19:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T19:01:32","slug":"what-the-nets-learned-from-egor-demins-rookie-season-as-his-year-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651396\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Nets learned from Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s rookie season as his year ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s rookie season ended Monday, and the Nets<\/a> didn\u2019t overthink it. They want him healthy now so he can hit the offseason running.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn ruled D\u00ebmin out for the remainder of the season because of increased plantar fasciitis in his left foot, announcing the decision ahead of Monday\u2019s 126-115 win over the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>. The Nets said he\u2019s expected to return to basketball activity early in the offseason and be a full participant in the summer development program.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a kid that wants to play, wants to be out there, wants to develop, and nothing better than playing real games to get better at this level,\u201d head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cObviously when you have discomfort and it doesn\u2019t allow you to play at a level, we have to find solutions.<\/p>\n

With the Nets at 17-47, riding a two-game winning streak entering their fourth and final meeting with the Detroit Pistons at Barclays Center, the best use of D\u00ebmin now isn\u2019t squeezing out the last chunk of this schedule. Brooklyn\u2019s 3-9 without him, but the priority is getting him a full, productive offseason.<\/p>\n

The season still gave the Nets plenty to take forward, starting with the most bankable skill he showed from the jump. D\u00ebmin can shoot, and he did it at a level that held for months, not weeks. The eighth overall pick out of BYU appeared in 52 games and started 45, averaging 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 25.2 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

He also became one of the most reliable rookie 3-point threats the franchise has seen. D\u00ebmin ranks second among NBA rookies with 124 made 3-pointers, which is the second most by a rookie in Nets history. His 38.5% shooting from 3-point range is the best by a qualified rookie in Nets history.<\/p>\n

Those numbers came with a few nights fans won\u2019t forget. On Dec. 29 against the Golden State Warriors, D\u00ebmin went 7-for-14 from deep to set the franchise rookie record for 3s made in a game. Over a longer stretch, he set an NBA rookie record by making at least one 3-pointer in 34 straight games from Nov. 7 to Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

Recognition followed soon after, because the league had seen enough to take notice. D\u00ebmin was selected to the 2026 Castrol Rising Stars at All-Star Weekend<\/a> in Los Angeles and won the mini tournament on Team Vince, coached by Vince Carter.<\/p>\n

What the Nets learned, though, wasn\u2019t limited to a shooting profile and a few milestones. They also saw the outline of what his next jump needs to look like. The biggest summer priorities are his handle, his ability to play off two feet in the paint, and most importantly his body and diet. That\u2019s the work that turns a productive rookie into someone the organization can build around.<\/p>\n

The injury decision fits that plan. Fern\u00e1ndez said D\u00ebmin\u2019s consistently wanted to play and develop, and that real games matter for a young player. But once the discomfort started to worsen, the team had to step in, seek out opinions and choose the route that gives D\u00ebmin the best chance at a healthy offseason. The encouraging part is that it\u2019s a non-surgical plan, and that the Nets remain optimistic.<\/p>\n

These last few games mattered to D\u00ebmin. The summer matters more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to find the best way, and at the end of the day the good thing is that it\u2019s a non-surgical procedure, which is good, and see what the timetable is,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cBut obviously the summer and getting him to work and get better throughout the process and having a summer is important, so the fact that he\u2019s not going to be able to play these 20-some games, it\u2019s not the best because he wants to and we value real reps, but also his health is the number one priority and we\u2019re very, very optimistic and positive about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s rookie season ended Monday, and the Nets didn\u2019t overthink it. They want him healthy now so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,227,248,6,671],"class_list":{"0":"post-651396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-egor-demin","13":"tag-jordi-fernandez","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116206428727922557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}