The Brooklyn Nets are heading into next season with a clearer sense of direction, but that doesn’t mean the pressure disappears. If anything, it shifts onto the youngest players on the roster.
After a couple of years of major roster movement, Brooklyn is trying to climb out of its rebuild in 2026-27. The additions of Julius Randle, Keon Ellis and Moe Wagner point to a team that wants more veteran help around the edges, but the heart of the plan still rests on a pile of young talent.
That group is headlined by six first-round picks, with five of them arriving in 2025. Those players are going to be asked to carry a lot of the load as the Nets try to get back to playing meaningful basketball.
Among them, Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Demin stand out as the two under the brightest spotlight. As Brooklyn’s top draft picks from the last two years, they look like the best long-term candidates to become the franchise’s next homegrown All-Star.
Nobody is expecting either one to play like an All-Star right away. But both will need to be real nightly contributors if Brooklyn is going to win more games, and there’s a strong chance they wind up as the starting backcourt at Barclays Center for years to come.
The rest of the 2025 first-round class comes with its own level of expectation, too. Danny Wolf probably sits third on the pressure list because of Brooklyn’s situation in the frontcourt, while Ben Saraf, Nolan Traore and Drake Powell are being asked to keep improving without necessarily becoming steady rotation anchors in year two.
Still, the bigger picture suggests the Nets may not want to put too much on any one young player just yet. This is a team coming off a 20-win season, with a revamped roster and a young group that is still learning how to play together after an injury-riddled 2025-26.
Jordi Fernandez can and should demand effort, winning plays and steady growth. But if this group isn’t fully ready, that’s not a reason to sound the alarm. Brooklyn’s focus should remain on development first, and if nobody from the young core makes a dramatic leap next season, there’s no need for panic.
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