Nets' Egor Demin explains why this offseason is important for him

NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets rookie guard Egor Demin came into the 2025-26 NBA season with plenty of questions to answer and his performance showed that he was ready for the next level. Demin wasn't able to finish the season for Brooklyn on a high note due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot, but once he heals, he understands that this summer will be a big one for him.

"I think this summer is probably one of the most important summers in my life, to be able to get from a rookie season where I didn’t have nothing over the summer," Demin said when explaining why this summer will be key for him. Demin has had an eventful past couple of seasons as he transitioned from playing professional basketball in Spain to BYU two years ago and went from playing at BYU last year to coming to Brooklyn.

"It’s hard to call summer the summer I had last year, obviously with the draft, pre-draft workouts and all that with my foot and all this stuff," Demin continued. "But I’m really excited about this summer and it started basically now. And it’s, as I said before, I think not many players get an opportunity to get prepared for this summer before they actually start the summer workouts."

Demin, 20, had a solid rookie season for the Nets as he averaged 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 39.9% from the field and 38.5% from behind the three-point line. Demin's season ended prematurely in March to the plantar fasciitis, but in his 52 games played, he was one of the best shooters on the team and among his rookie class.

Demin made 124 three-pointers over the course of his shortened season, ranking him fourth among rookies and behind only Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets, of the , and of the . Demin showed a significant amount of potential this season thanks to his long-range shooting, but he also knows that he'll have to do plenty of work this summer to be a better player once he heals from his injury.