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Brooklyn Nets’ draft reportedly received brutal reviews from rival executives

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 2:30 PM ET

The Brooklyn Nets made five picks in the first round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday, but despite the quantity, they did not exactly receive rave reviews for the quality.

The Nets kept all five of their picks and selected Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf. That came as a surprise and prompted some confusion among rival teams, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

Windhorst said that some executives and agents think the players the Nets drafted are not necessarily better than some of the G League talent the team used down the stretch last season.

“I got some people telling me some things about them. People are making fun of (their) draft,” Windhorst said. “I got people saying to me, executives and agents, they’re like, ‘I was watching them play three two-way guys during this year so that they could clap for taking the guys in the 20s. These two-way guys might be just as good as they guys they were taking.'”

Brian Windhorst on ESPN mentions execs and agents were contacting him making fun of the Brooklyn Nets draft room.

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/bNP91GvVT0
— NetsKingdom (@NetsKingdomAJ) June 26, 2025

The Nets’ draft was controversial, with the biggest question mark being the selection of Demin at No. 8 overall. He is a polarizing prospect and a risk at that point of the draft. Broadly, the team drafted solidly skilled players with good ability on defense, but ones that face questions about their shooting. That is a risky proposition in the modern NBA.

Perhaps the Nets are hoping to complement their new set of young players with an established star, or even use some of those draft picks to land the star. Whatever the plan, there are some rivals that clearly believe their rebuild is off to a bad start.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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