Brooklyn’s Rookies Are Growing Up Fast - And Earning Their Minutes
When the Brooklyn Nets opened training camp this season, Drake Powell and Nolan Traore weren’t exactly the rookies fans were penciling into the rotation. One had a quiet college career and missed most of preseason.
The other looked like he was trying to play NBA basketball at double speed and half the weight. But fast forward to January, and both are playing over 20 minutes a night - a sign of just how far they’ve come, and how much trust they’ve earned from the coaching staff.
Let’s start with Powell. The former North Carolina wing wasn’t a featured player in Chapel Hill, and after a knee injury kept him out of Summer League and much of the preseason, there were real questions about how NBA-ready he was.
ESPN had him projected as a second-rounder in their final 2025 mock draft. Brooklyn clearly saw something more, grabbing him at No. 22 - a pick that looked like a gamble at the time.
But that bet is starting to pay off.
While his college numbers didn’t jump off the stat sheet, Powell quietly posted strong shooting splits - 37.9% from deep and 48.3% from the field - and flashed the kind of athletic tools that translate. At the 2025 NBA Combine, he recorded a 43-inch max vertical, a 37.5-inch standing vert, and finished among the top five at his position in agility and sprint drills. That’s elite company.
Now healthy and ramped up, Powell is showing why the Nets took the swing. He dropped a career-high 16 points in a tight loss to the Pelicans earlier this month, including a clutch three with five seconds left to pull Brooklyn within one. His defense is coming along, too - he picked up two steals in a recent double-overtime battle with the Celtics.
“He can shoot, he can playmake, he can guard the best perimeter guys - and his athleticism is top-tier for his position,” head coach Jordi Fernández said. “We believe he can be not just a good, but a great two-way player.”
That’s high praise for the league’s 19th-youngest player.
At 6’5”, 195 pounds, Powell has the frame, bounce, and shooting stroke to carve out a long-term role. The Nets didn’t need all five of their first-round picks to become stars - but they needed contributors. Powell is starting to look like one.
Then there’s Traore.
If Powell’s rise has been steady, Traore’s feels like a rocket launch. The French point guard came in at just 175 pounds - the lightest player drafted from the NBA Combine - and early on, he played like the game was moving too fast for him.
In his first four G League games with Long Island, he averaged 4.5 turnovers per night. That’s a number that would lead the NBA by a wide margin.
But this isn’t the first time Traore has had a slow start. Back in France’s LNB Elite League with Saint-Quentin, he followed a similar path before breaking out and earning FIBA Champions League Best Young Player honors.
By December, something clicked. He was averaging 22.2 points, eight assists, and 1.4 steals per game in the G League, while cutting his turnovers in half. The speed was still there, but now he was using it to his advantage - changing pace, manipulating defenders, and playing with control.
“He took full advantage of his time in Long Island,” Fernández said. “When he came back, he brought a different spirit and a lot more confidence.”
That confidence is showing. After logging just ten appearances through the first three months of the season, Traore has already played 13 games in January, averaging 7.8 points and 3.5 assists in 23.4 minutes per game.
His breakout performance came in that same double-overtime loss to Boston. Traore played a career-high 37 minutes and finished with 21 points - becoming the youngest player in franchise history to score 20 in a game. He added three boards, two assists, two steals, and a block for good measure.
“His ability to touch the paint, how slippery he is - he’s going to keep growing,” Fernández said. “He’s got to grow that voice, and I’m going to trust him. He’s doing a great job.”
Jordi’s Blueprint: Accountability With Belief
None of this happens without the environment Fernández has built in Brooklyn. He’s not just rolling the ball out and hoping for the best. He’s holding these young guys accountable - but he’s also giving them the space and support to grow.
When Powell played just two minutes in a December loss to Dallas, Fernández didn’t sugarcoat it.
“These young guys need to understand how important every minute you play is,” he said. “If the intentions are there, I’m completely fine. But if the mistakes are from easing into the game, that’s not how we do it here.”
Powell got the message. In the next game, he responded with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal in a win over the Bucks.
That’s the kind of feedback loop you want from a young player. Mistake, correction, improvement. Rinse and repeat.
It’s still early - way too early to make sweeping judgments about the Nets’ 2025 draft class. But for Powell and Traore, the arrow is pointing up.
They’ve gone from question marks to rotation players in just a few months. And if they keep trending this way, they might just end up as more than that.