Ben Saraf’s summer league run left the Brooklyn Nets with more questions than answers.
That matters because Saraf entered the offseason with a real chance to make up ground in a crowded point guard picture, especially after Brooklyn added Mikel Brown Jr. The Nets used summer league to get a read on how much the 20-year-old had grown since his rookie year, but not everyone came away impressed.
John Hollinger was blunt when he assessed Brooklyn’s 2025 draft class for The Athletic.
"The Nets had five first-round picks in 2025. With the exception of the outstanding Egor Dёmin, the Nets look as if they whiffed on this entire group,"
Hollinger singled out Egor Demin for praise, but Saraf drew a harsher evaluation.
"Saraf’s off-kilter left-handed game showed some flashes, but he still isn’t a threat from the perimeter and rarely can get himself all the way to the cup," Hollinger continued on Saraf. "This results in many difficult, contested finishes and 14-of-36 (38.9 percent) shooting inside the arc. A 5.7 percent rebound rate in six games against summer-league competition is also pretty sad for a 6-6 guard."
Saraf’s numbers across the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League tell the same story. He averaged 10.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 37.3% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range.
Brooklyn also gave a clue about where he stands right now. Saraf came off the bench in four of his six games, while Brown and Demin started together in the backcourt throughout the summer circuit.
For now, Saraf is headed into training camp competing with Brown and Nolan Traore for point guard minutes. Brown appears to have the inside track to start, which leaves Saraf with work to do if he wants to carve out a role in Jordi Fernandez’s rotation.
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