- Egor Demin, a former BYU standout, was drafted No. 8 by Brooklyn Nets.
- Demin, a 6-foot-9 point guard, excelled in his lone BYU season.
- He led BYU to its first Sweet 16 since 2011, setting assist records.
PROVO — Egor Demin's time with BYU was a brief, one-year flash.
But his basketball career is just getting started.
Demin was selected with the No. 8 overall pick by the Brooklyn Nets in Wednesday's first round of the 2025 NBA draft. The former BYU standout from Moscow, Russia, is the first player from BYU selected in the NBA draft since Jimmer Fredette in 2011.
Fredette, the last BYU guard to lead the Cougars to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before Demin, was the No. 10 pick by the Sacramento Kings (from Milwaukee). That makes Demin the 19th draft pick from BYU since the NBA/ABA merger in 1979, and the highest-drafted Cougar alum since Rafael Araujo was selected eighth by the Toronto Raptors in 2004.
"For me, it's a great opportunity to be with a team where I will be able to develop myself and also impact the game in the ways I can," Demin told reporters backstage at Barclays Center — his future home arena. "This is a historical club ... A lot of Russian players have gone through this organization, and I'm so honored to be a part of it."
The 6-foot-9 point guard was an All-Big 12 freshman team selection and all-Big 12 honorable mention in his lone season of college basketball, when he averaged 10.6 points, 5.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 33 starts.
Demin helped lead the Cougars to BYU's first Sweet 16 appearance since Fredette was in uniform, and he did it all in Kevin Young's first season as a collegiate head coach.
The 19-year-old Russian wunderkind who arrived at BYU after a stint with the Real Madrid basketball academy in Spain since he was 16 years old set a record for the most assists in his BYU debut with 11, and went on to be one of four freshman in program history with multipole 10-plus assists games and the msot assists by a freshman in BYU history.
His 180 assists ranks the sixth-most all-time in BYU men's basketball history. But as much as BYU helped him progress as a basketball player, Demin was open that the university sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — of which he is not a member — changed him personally, as well.
"I'm living my best life being a BYU student and a BYU player," he told KSL.com at the start of the NCAA Tournament in Denver. "This is just so great, to be here next to (my teammates) and around them; I feel like it's home. It's a big family.
"I would say, really: thank you."
"I believe in the game of basketball as a creative place. It's like art for me. I want to play beautiful. I want to play pretty. I want to play efficient."
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) June 26, 2025
Egor Demin talks about his passing: pic.twitter.com/dzkYcdxdcq
Demin is an elite passer — considered by many to be the best in the draft class — with size and vision that make him elite in operating the pick-and-roll. He needs to work on his shot after shooting just 27% from 3-point range in his lone season at BYU. But he showed flashes of that ability when he connected on 43% of treys against VCU in the NCAA Tournament and 66% on limited reps of a blowout win over West Virginia during the latter stages of Big 12 play.
"The passing is something that I was always doing. This is who I am, who I'm trying to be," Demin said. "I believe in the game of basketball as a creative place; it's like art for me, and I want to play beautiful, pretty and efficient.
"For me ... it's about making the right decision, which I'm trying to do."
Surrounded by friends and family, including Young, former BYU star (and Russian international via his pro career) Travis Hansen, and BYU women's basketball rising sophomore Delaney Gibb, Demin took the next step in his basketball career Wednesday night as he donned a Nets hat and embraced commissioner Adam Silver in his custom Louis Vuitton suit.
"He's obviously a great basketball player, but he's an even better person," Gibb told BYUtv before the draft. "I think where ever he goes, he's going to be great."
