Bleacher Report tagged Egor Dëmin’s breakout as a hot take for the Brooklyn Nets, but that label feels a little generous. After what he showed as a rookie and then again in Summer League, this looks less like a bold swing and more like the next step.
Dëmin’s first NBA season gave Brooklyn plenty to like. He knocked down 38.5 percent of his threes and flashed the passing that helped the Nets take him eighth overall.
The one missing piece was aggression. Too often, he was content to let the shot come to him instead of forcing the issue.
That changed in July.
In Summer League, Dëmin played with a different edge. He averaged 21.0 points per game even while shooting only 30.0 percent from deep, and that mismatch actually makes the performance stand out more.
He wasn’t relying on the three-ball to carry him. He was finding points in other ways.
The clearest sign was how often he got inside the arc. Dëmin went 11-of-17 on two-point attempts and reached the free-throw line eight times.
A year ago in Summer League, he made just one two-point shot and drew only one shooting foul. That’s a real shift in how he’s attacking the game.
The jumper still matters, of course. Dëmin doesn’t need to become a deadeye shooter overnight. But if he keeps pressing closeouts, getting into the paint, and making defenses react, everything around his game gets tougher to stop.
There’s also the physical side of it. Dëmin spent part of the offseason adding size, and at 6-foot-8, that kind of strength matters when the game gets physical and bigger defenders are waiting at the rim. He looked noticeably stronger this summer, and that showed up in the way he played.
That’s why the optimism here feels justified. Brooklyn doesn’t need him to turn into a 25-point scorer.
It needs him to be more assertive and punish the openings that are already there. If he pairs that with the passing touch he’s already shown, the Nets have something real.
What stands out most from Summer League isn’t just the 21.0 points per game. It’s how he got there.
He was attacking. He was getting downhill.
He was using his size. He was drawing fouls.
Those are the kinds of habits that can carry into the regular season.
Summer League still isn’t the NBA regular season, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But Dëmin didn’t just pile up empty numbers.
He looked different. More confident.
More physical. More willing to make a play instead of waiting for one.
So if Bleacher Report wants to call this a hot take, fine. But Nets fans probably shouldn’t be shocked if Dëmin breaks out in Year 2. The signs were there last season, the evidence got louder this summer, and now he enters the year with another offseason of work behind him.
This one may not end up feeling very hot at all.
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