Biggest Strengths from Nets' 2025 NBA Draft Class

The 2025 NBA Draft is officially over, and the Brooklyn Nets are perhaps the biggest focus for many different reasons. This year, the team took five first-round prospects to highlight a new core, which has many fans excited.

However, this class has mixed reactions. While some are hopeful that a group of mostly international players can thrive in the modern NBA, others, including executives (per ESPN's Brian Windhorst), are mocking the organization.

There are certainly multiple silver linings with this class, though. Here are three major strengths Brooklyn's 2025 class can bring to the table:

Playmaking

The Nets' 2025 class combined to average 19.9 assists per game this past season. Namely, Egor Demin (No. 8), Nolan Traore (No. 19), Ben Saraf (No. 26), and Danny Wolf (No. 27) were highlighted for being extremely willing passers.

Demin and Traore can come in as immediate floor generals even if the scoring isn't there at first. Demin and Wolf, who are 6-foot-9 and seven feet, can make taller defenders pay with a refined game (scoring aside). The rest of the offense is raw, but having willing passers will create easier buckets for the Nets as a whole.

Pace

With the willingness to pass comes a faster offense as well. Head coach Jordi Fernandez has always preached unselfishness and the ability to move the ball quicker since he joined the Nets, and this class could unlock that philosophy.

Wolf can especially make this happen, as being a center who can move the ball so fast means more fastbreak opportunities. Just imagine the Michigan product grabbing a rebound and zipping it to one of the other rookies for an easy bucket in transition. Expect Brooklyn's pace to increase mightily this upcoming season, if the newcomers get enough minutes.

Defense

The defensive potential of this class is seemingly being overlooked. Drake Powell (No. 22) was regarded as one of, if not the most elite, defender in the entire class. Combine that with Demin being a 6-foot-9 point forward and Wolf being a 7-footer, and you have a recipe for improved defense.

The instincts are what are so raw in the defense. Wolf played the four at Michigan, so he wasn't regarded as much of a paint protector. Demin, at 19 years old, is incredibly unpolished. Nevertheless, the potential is still there, and seeing as how the Nets' defense improved as the 2024-25 season went on, Fernandez is expected to tap that potential on the other side of the ball.