Nets aim to develop young players, with eyes on next draft

The games really matter for the Nets starting on Wednesday with their season opener against the Hornets in Charlotte. But, in truth, this is when the losses really begin to count.

The Nets essentially have a pair of prime directives for the coming season. One is to develop the five first-round draft picks they selected in June — which included a trio of point guards headlined by the No. 8 overall selection Egor Demin from BYU. The other, which looms as more important, is to lose enough to land a premier position in the 2026 NBA Draft.

The class that’s coming out could have three or four players who could be transformative to the rebuilding effort the Nets have undertaken.

BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, Duke’s Cameron Boozer and, if he applied for the draft, Tennessee’s Nate Ament are all considered high-level talents who could shape an organization for years to come, akin to 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg.

The Nets aren’t really even pretending when it comes to pursuing this tanking strategy.

Owner Joe Tsai was asked about the coming season recently and replied: “Well, I have to say that we’re in a rebuilding year. We spent all of our [2025] picks. We had five first-round draft picks this past summer. We have one pick in 2026 and we hope to get a good pick. So you can predict what kind of strategy we will use for this season.”

Flagg could have been in play for the Nets in the last draft or at least for Rutgers’ Dylan Harper or the two-time Newsday Long Island Player of the Year from LuHi, VJ Edgecombe of Baylor. But the Nets succeeded on the floor more than expected, going 26-56. They opted not to package some or all of their five picks to move up.

So as Tsai suggested, they really don’t want to miss out on a great choice this time. And with the youngest roster in the league, including a rotation of three 19-year-old rookies at point guard, they aren’t exactly using a recipe that wins a lot.

The Nets brought in some star power by trading Cameron Johnson to Denver for Michael Porter Jr., who was a starter on the Nuggets’ 2023 NBA championship team and averaged 18.2 points and 7.0 rebounds last season. During the offseason, Porter made some comments in an interview that could be considered anti-gay and so how he is received at Barclays Center bears watching.

Porter and shooting guard Cam Thomas, who averaged 22.4 points for the Nets last season, are likely to carry much of the scoring load.

Expected to join Porter on the starting front line are center Nic Claxton and newly acquired Terance Mann, who averaged 10.3 points and 9.8 points last season, respectively.

In the backcourt, Thomas will be paired with one of the three rookies just drafted.

Demin figured to be the starter but dealt with a tear in his plantar fascia and appeared only in their last preseason game on Saturday in Toronto. Nolan Traore, the 19th overall pick, got two starts at the point and Ben Saraf, the 26th overall selection, got one.

All seemed to be adjusting to the speed and tenacity of playing a tough position at the highest level. Traore averaged three turnovers in 15 minutes per game, Saraf 2.5 in 20 minutes and Demin committed two turnovers in 19 minutes Saturday. However, Demin scored 14 points.

“[I’m] happy with the adversity that especially our young point guards had to deal with and happy with how they responded,” coach Jordi Fernandez told reporters in Toronto on Saturday. “And I want all of them to keep being positive and play. Take advantage of the next opportunity because it will happen.”

Danny Wolf, a 6-11 forward with strong passing skills who was the No. 27 overall pick out of Michigan, is another player the Nets want to develop. In three preseason games, he averaged 8.3 points and 4.0 assists in 13.5 minutes, but like the other rookies struggled with turnovers. He committed seven in the three games.

The Nets play their first game of the season at Barclays Center against Cleveland on Friday.

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.