The Nets aren’t hiding how they feel about Mikel Brown Jr.
Brooklyn’s front office is already talking about the rookie guard like he might be the biggest bargain in the 2026 NBA Draft, with one executive telling Keith Smith of Spotrac, “You’re probably going to hear this about every guy, including A.J. (Dybantsa) at No. 1, but we feel like Mikel is the steal of the draft.”
That’s a strong statement for a player who wasn’t part of the conversation for the No. 1 pick with the Washington Wizards before the draft, even as the buzz around the class mostly revolved around AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson. Still, Brooklyn used the No. 6 pick on Brown and clearly believes it may have landed the best player in the class.
Brown entered the draft with real momentum, and that only grew after his showing at the NBA Combine in May. There, he flashed the skill set that made scouts pay attention while also showing how much he had bounced back from a nagging back injury.
The early summer results were uneven. Brown played in just one of Brooklyn’s three California Classic Summer League games, and in that outing he finished with 10 points and four assists while shooting 36.4% from the field.
But the Nets saw a much more encouraging stretch once the action shifted to Las Vegas. Over that run, Brown averaged 16.7 points, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting 39.5% from the floor and 33.3% from three.
There were still rough edges, and the executive acknowledged that too. “He was a little wild here (at Summer League) and in California (at California Classic Summer League), but that’ll round out with time,” the executive said.
Brooklyn also believes the environment around Brown will speed up that process. “Having him go against Keon (Ellis) and Terance (Mann) every day in practice is going to be huge for him.”
Brown, 20, was not viewed by most scouts and pundits as being in the same tier as Dybantsa or Peterson. But the Nets took him at No. 6 with the idea that he could become their point guard of the future. However his rookie season unfolds, Brooklyn’s belief in him is already obvious.
In Other News...
Kevin Durant Praise Brings Back A Debate Nets Fans Know Well
Bam Adebayos recent list of the five greatest players in NBA history included Kevin Durant, a nod that lands with extra weight in Brooklyn. Durant spent parts of three seasons with the Nets and turned in career-high averages in points and assists during his run there, giving the franchise one of the most productive stretches it has ever had from a star scorer, even if the partnership never quite reached the championship level the team imagined.
For Nets fans, any fresh praise for Durant tends to reopen an old debate about what his Brooklyn tenure really meant and what might have been. The organization moved on during the 2022-23 season, sending Durant to the Phoenix Suns in a deal that brought back multiple first-round picks and a pick swap, but the broader question of how to judge his impact in Brooklyn still lingers every time his name resurfaces in conversations like Adebayos. [Read more 🡒]
Julius Randle Faces A Bigger Nets Role Than Fans Expected
Julius Randle is stepping into Brooklyn with a different kind of assignment than many fans expected when the Nets reshaped their roster. After coming over from the Timberwolves, he is projected to be more than a scoring option, with the organization looking at him as a stabilizing veteran presence for a group that still has plenty of growing to do.
The fit matters because the Nets are not simply adding a name, they are asking Randle to help define the tone of the team. With a young roster around him, his role could stretch beyond production into day-to-day guidance, and how quickly he settles into that responsibility may shape just how competitive Brooklyn can be while the rest of the lineup continues to develop. [Read more 🡒]