There were some question marks surrounding Egor Demin's shooting ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, and rightfully so.
Demin shot just 27.3 percent from three during his lone season of college basketball at BYU, causing many scouts to be hesitant about how his shot would translate to the NBA. But that didn't scare the Nets away, as they saw the potential star upside in his game and selected him with the No. 8 overall pick in June.
While it's still very early in his professional career, Demin demonstrated his skill set Friday night in his preseason debut against the Toronto Raptors. The 19-year-old, who missed the team's first three preseason games due to a plantar fascia tear, scored 14 points with five rebounds and an assist in 19 minutes off the bench.
The performance earned him praise from teammates Michael Porter Jr. (34 points) and Cam Thomas (seven points), who believe the 6-foot-9 rookie can make a real impact in the NBA.
"Oh, yeah, he’s solid. He’s going to be really good," Porter Jr. told the New York Post. "Positionally, for his size, if he can translate all those point guard skills over to the pros, he’s going to be a problem.
"He makes the right reads and the right plays. So I know it may take time to deal with the physicality of the point guard position in the NBA, but once he gets the hang of it, he’s going to be really, really good."
the rook pullin' up with confidence! 🎯@whoisegor3 | #NetsWorldpic.twitter.com/6GJIxez3Bt
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 18, 2025
Demin's 14 points came on 3 of 5 shooting, including 2 of 3 from three-point range, and 6 of 7 on free throws. 11 of his 14 points came in the first half, including all of the foul shots. He also recorded a block and committed two turnovers in the 119-114 loss.
"He was great. He was great. Obviously, it’s preseason, but he was good for his first game," Thomas said. "We’ll see what happens in Charlotte, but it was a great start for him, for sure."
While Demin is still working his way back to full strength from the foot injury, as he only started playing five-on-five while the team was in China, head coach Jordi Fernandez was pleased with what he saw from the guard Friday night.
"He was excellent," Fernandez said. "There’s going to be things he’s going to keep working on. We’ve got to keep building him up physically to be able to sustain more minutes. … But I’m very happy with his presence, how composed he was, how he talked to his teammates, all those things. And made it look easy.
"He shot the ball every time he was open or halfway open, got to the free-throw line and rebounded. He got five rebounds, made nice plays at the rim. It was good."
Demin added that his first bit of NBA action was a great learning experience, and he'll take those lessons with him into the regular season.
"Yeah, 100 percent. I’ve been told a lot about the Raptors as one of the most physical and longest teams from the standpoint of pressure almost the whole game, and how pesky they are," Demin said. "I don’t want to say I was scared, but I was super aware of what to expect. But I also couldn’t understand what to expect in my first game … so I’m just happy we went through this and had this experience. It’s a huge lesson for all of us, and I can’t wait for the start of the season."
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