Brooklyn’s 2025 NBA Draft haul gave the franchise a little piece of history: five first-round picks, the most ever taken by one team in a single round. After a full season and a look at the California Classic, Nets fans were asked a simple question about the “Flatbush Five” - who has the most to prove?
The answer from the fan base was pretty clear. Egor Dëmin has already separated himself as the group’s undisputed star and leader, but the rest of the field drew a much wider range of expectations. And the encouraging part, at least from a patience standpoint, is that the player who came out on top in the survey is only 20.
Roughly 18 Nets fans weighed in when the question was first posed, and their comments centered heavily on Drake Powell.
One fan pointed to Powell’s struggles in the California Summer League, writing, “Powell showed difficulty in the Cali Summer league. Should have showed an improved play since he played last year with the regular team.
He was committing TOs left and right. For me, he wasn’t ready for the summer league, not sure why?
injury?”
Another commenter drew a line between needing to prove something and simply looking like the most likely player to fall behind. “I guess I see a difference between ‘who has the most the prove’ and ‘who do I think unlikely to be able to prove’.
Obviously Egor needs to take a major step forward to justify his draft status, but the guy who may be gone if he can’t get it together is Drake Powell. Unless he turns it around in Las Vegas, he may be playing most of the year in LI, or could be packaged in a trade.”
Still early… right?
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Brooklyn has him on an Exhibit 10 contract, and hell get a look on the Nets Summer League roster with a chance to keep pushing for a training camp invite. If he can impress enough to stay in the mix, the path could lead through Long Island as he tries to turn a long-shot route into a real pro foothold, with his defense still the area that will likely decide how far this run can go. [Read more 🡒]