Before the 2025 NBA Draft started, the Brooklyn Nets were sitting pretty. They had the luxury of having five first-round picks. Not only that but they had a clean cap sheet and absolute total flexibility. This was the kind of setup every rebuilding team dreams of. They were given the rare moment when patience, past pain, and smart moves finally line up. But instead of using that leverage to take control of their future, the Nets may have just boxed themselves in.
Brooklyn selected all five of their first-rounders:
Egor Demin (No. 8)
Nolan Traore (No. 19)
Drake Powell (No. 22)
Ben Saraf (No. 26)
Danny Wolf (No. 27)
In the first round Brooklyn did not make a single trade, they decided to hold on and not move on from any of their first round picks. And now, just like that, a third of the roster is occupied by rookies who have never played an NBA minute.
There was a real opportunity here, one where Sean Marks could have packaged multiple picks to move into the top five and land a centerpiece whether that person be a great slasher like Dylan Harper or a skilled scorer in Ace Bailey. If they did not want to move up in this year's draft they had the opportunity to flip a pick or two for future assets, especially considering the 2026 class is expected to be stacked. But no they did not take full advantage of this chance and instead they doubled down on volume over impact. And now, ironically, the team with the most options has fewer.
Not here to complain about the players they selected.
I want to make it clear that this is not about hating the picks. There is some real intrigue in Demin’s size and feel, Powell’s defense, and Traores burst of speed. But development in the NBA is not just about talent, it is about structure, and fit. How do five rookies find all of that on one roster? The short answer to that is they do not…at least not easily.
They have locked themselves into a youth experiment that might not pay off for years. Doing this strategy now risks overcrowding, and maybe even stunting the growth of the very prospects they just selected. It is extremely hard not to think of what could have been. A focused draft night could have added one core building block and preserved plenty of more options down the road.