Nets Draft 5 Players
Photo: Shara Talia Taylor – NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
The Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks and Head Coach Jordi Fernández introduced the five new players the team selected in the 2025 NBA Draft, at the HSS Training Center on July 1.
The Nets used their five picks to choose Egor Demin, Nolan Traoré, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf. The team, all selected in round 1, was excited to get to know each other and eager to start playing.
“I think that everybody would say that everybody is waiting for summer league, just to step on the court in the jersey and play basketball together,” said 8th overall pick, 6-foot-9 BYU guard-forward 19-year-old Egor Demin, of Moscow Russia, about what he looked forward to this summer.
Nolan Traoré, the 19th overall pick, a 6-foot-5, 19-year-old guard from Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball, a French basketball club, added that he has hopes of getting to know his teammates this preseason. “As a point guard, I would say that, it’s important to know these guys and know what they like, just start to build the team right away,” Traoré said.
Sean Marks said they were confident in the five players selected. “It was about us capitalizing with the hand we were dealt,” Marks said. “We’ve never had five picks in one draft.”
He said the five can compete in multiple positions. Some were familiar with each other’s style through experience playing one another.
The team took Saraf, a 6-foot-6, 19-year-old guard from Israel, who played for the Ratiopharm Ulm, a professional basketball club based in Ulm, Germany at No. 26th and 6-foot-11 forward 21-year-old Danny Wolf of the University of Michigan, from Glencoe, IL at No. 27. “The entirety of the team, the young guys, coaches, front office, just kind of starting on the right foot,” Wolf said about getting to know the team and what he looks forward to this summer.
6-foot-6 19-year-old UNC guard-forward Powell was drafted at No. 22 by the Atlanta Hawks and traded to the Nets.
Coach Fernández explained his confidence in the team’s ability when asked how to ensure the five will gain experience and playing time. “They’re going to have to earn it and I think that’s how it should be,” he said. “They’ve already shown who they are. That’s why we drafted them.”
He said he would focus on the team and building as a group. “It’s going to be my decision to go and put five guys on the court and have most likely a 10-man rotation and go through the process,” Coach Fernández said.
The NBA Summer League starts this month in Las Vegas.
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