The Brooklyn Nets made NBA history on Wednesday night by becoming the first franchise to use five first-round picks in a single draft. But while that record-setting move might look ambitious on paper, insiders around the league are roasting them behind the scenes.
During ESPN’s alternate NBA Draft broadcast, Brian Windhorst revealed that executives and agents were texting him mid-draft, openly mocking Brooklyn’s strategy.
“I got some people telling me some things about Brooklyn. People are making fun of these drafters.”
“I got people saying to me, executives and agents, they’re like, ‘I was watching them play three two-way guys during this year so that they can clap for taking the guys they’ve chosen.’ He’s like, ‘These two-way guys might be just as good as the guys they’ve taken.'”
The Nets selected Egor Demin (No. 8), Nolan Traore (No. 19), Drake Powell (No. 22), Ben Saraf (No. 26), and Danny Wolf (No. 27). While all are intriguing prospects in isolation, the overlap in skillsets, especially the fact that four out of the five picks were guards, raised eyebrows throughout the league.
Multiple evaluators pointed out that three of those guards, Demin, Traore, and Saraf, have questionable shooting ability and may struggle to coexist on the floor.
The most confounding part of Brooklyn’s approach? They didn’t make a single trade. With five picks, including three in the 20s, the expectation was that general manager Sean Marks would at least consolidate, move up, or flip one or two for a proven asset.
Instead, he rolled the dice on five rookies in a draft class that was widely seen as shallow after the top 5–7 picks.
From a developmental standpoint, it raises even more questions. Integrating five rookies at once into an NBA system, especially a franchise that isn’t in full tank mode, is an uphill battle.
And that’s where the criticism gets louder. The Nets had the draft capital to make a franchise-altering move. Multiple league insiders pointed out that five first-rounders could’ve been packaged for a proven star, perhaps even Jaylen Brown, who may become available given Boston’s long-term salary crunch and postseason failures.
If the Celtics ever considered retooling, the Nets were one of the few teams with the ammo to make a compelling offer.
They could’ve also explored a move for other disgruntled stars, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, if Milwaukee’s situation deteriorates further, or at the very least entered conversations for players like Karl-Anthony Towns, or even Donovan Mitchell. Instead, Brooklyn drafted three point guards in a row, all with questions about shooting and fit.
As ESPN’s Chris Herring noted, the Eastern Conference is wide open with contenders like Boston, Milwaukee, and Indiana reeling from playoff injuries. This was a prime opportunity for Brooklyn to make an aggressive move, not retreat into another year of rebuilding.
Even worse, evaluators aren’t sold on the value Brooklyn got. According to RookieScale.com’s consensus rankings, the Nets took players listed at 14, 22, 30, 34, and 41, all while holding picks at 8, 19, 22, 26, and 27. It’s not just about who they took, it’s about where they took them.
Still, Sean Marks remains upbeat, telling reporters post-draft, “I’m thrilled with the group we got tonight. We’ve got some guys who play the right way, move the ball the right way, and have some untapped skills there.”
The rest of the NBA doesn’t share that optimism. Unless Demin turns into a franchise-changing guard and the rest become productive rotation players, the Nets could find themselves the punchline of this draft class. For now, it looks less like a rebuild and more like a stockpile gone sideways.
