Former BYU guard Egor Dëmin is wasting no time making his presence felt in Las Vegas.
The Brooklyn Nets guard, now in his second NBA season, opened Summer League with another strong showing in a 91-65 rout of the New York Knicks at the Thomas & Mack Center. Dëmin finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-9 from 3-point range, while adding three rebounds and two assists.
That performance came on the heels of a summer that has already hinted at a bigger offensive leap. Dëmin has scored 23 points against Golden State and 26 against Orlando in his two most recent outings, and his improved confidence as a driver has been a major part of that growth.
“I got so much stronger, and that gave me more confidence. The next step is trying.
The more I try it, I think it gets better and better. So I’m very excited about all the work that I’ve done, and it’s gonna keep growing.”
The 20-year-old appears to be past the plantar fasciitis in his left foot that ended his rookie season in early March and cost him the final six weeks. Before the injury, he had put together a promising first year for Brooklyn, setting an NBA rookie record by making a 3-pointer in 34 straight games.
Even with the missed time, Dëmin still shot 38.5 percent from deep, a Nets rookie record, and earned a Rising Stars Game selection after appearing in 52 of 82 games. He averaged 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 25.2 minutes, starting 45 games for a rebuilding Brooklyn team.
His shooting jump was striking compared with his lone season at BYU, where he hit just 27.3 percent from beyond the arc. But he was never just a perimeter threat for the Cougars. In Provo, Dëmin averaged 10.6 points, 5.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals across 33 starts, earning Honorable Mention All-Big 12 and Big 12 All-Freshman Team honors while helping BYU go 26-10 and finish No. 13 in the final AP poll.
The 6-foot-8 playmaker also became the first one-and-done product of the NBA pipeline coach Kevin Young has vowed to build at BYU, going from an 18-point, 11-assist debut against Central Arkansas to a lottery pick in less than five months.
Against New York, Dëmin’s length and shot creation stood out early. He scored 15 first-half points and kept getting downhill before knocking down consecutive 3s to fuel a 16-2 Brooklyn run that wiped out an eight-point Knicks lead. Brooklyn then took over completely, outscoring New York 30-9 in the third quarter and leading by as many as 32.
Dëmin also shared the spotlight with rookie lottery pick Mikel Brown Jr., who matched him with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Together, they helped Brooklyn close the door on a lopsided win and give Dëmin another strong chapter in what has already been a productive summer.
In Other News...
BYU Still Has Two Major Recruiting Decisions Hanging In The Balance
BYUs 2026 recruiting push has already brought more than a dozen official visitors through Provo, and the Cougars have used those weekends to get in front of several prospects who have also picked up offers. Among the most important names in the mix is Owen Leishman, a linebacker and tight end prospect who has offers from BYU and Utah and has already taken an official visit to BYU, giving the Cougars a real foothold in a competitive recruitment.
Jag Ioane is another one worth watching closely. The Orem High School defensive end has taken official visits to several programs, including BYU, and he remains in the middle of sorting through his options. For a class that is still taking shape, both recruitments matter because they could help define how high this group climbs once the summer visits are done and decisions start coming in. [Read more 🡒]
Why Kalani Sitake Staying At BYU Suddenly Feels Even Bigger
With coaching turnover sweeping through the Big 12, Kalani Sitakes steadiness at BYU has taken on a different kind of weight. He is now the leagues longest-tenured head coach, a distinction that says as much about the chaos around him as it does about the program he has built. Sitake has long leaned on a LaVell Edwards-inspired approach, stressing development, culture, discipline and sacrifice over the quick pull of NIL money, and that message has helped define the Cougars under his watch.
It has also helped keep the roster together. Sitake chose to remain at BYU despite outside opportunities, and almost all of his starters are back for the upcoming season, giving the Cougars a level of continuity that is increasingly rare in the league. In a conference where change has become the norm, BYU enters with a coach who has stayed put and a team that has largely stayed with him, which makes the next step feel especially intriguing. [Read more 🡒]
ESPN Just Put Ty Detmer In Rare Air With College Football Legends
ESPNs latest jersey-number project turned into a nice reminder of how often Utah football names surface in the sports broader history. The network went number by number from 0 to 99, picking the best college player ever to wear each one and listing three runners-up, and three players with Utah ties came away as winners: Ty Detmer for No. 14, Merlin Olsen for his number, and Haloti Ngata for No. 96.
For BYU fans, Detmers inclusion is the one that jumps off the page. The former Cougars quarterback has long been part of the programs national identity, and being singled out in a list built to compare eras only adds to that legacy. Utah-affiliated names also showed up among the runners-up, with Robbie Bosco and Jordan Gross giving the state even more representation in a project that leaned heavily on college football history and reputation. [Read more 🡒]