Egor Dëmin Speaks For First Time Since Season-ending Injury

Before the Brooklyn Nets’ contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, rookie Egor Dëmin spoke to the media. It marked his first public comment since being ruled out for the remainder of the season with plantar fasciitis, a decision the Nets announced on March 9.

Dëmin had played in two back-to-backs in the weeks leading up to the announcement, which seemed like a major step in his recovery, considering that he had been battling this left-foot injury since the spring of 2025. Alas, Brooklyn put the kibosh on his rookie season after 52 appearances citing “increased plantar fasciitis in his left foot.”

That same day, Jordi Fernández revealed that Dëmin would be undergoing a “non-surgical procedure” to begin the recovery process. On Wednesday, both Fernández and Dëmin declined to reveal the exact procedure. Likely options include a stem-cell injection, a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection, or potentially a cortisone injection, though the latter is generally regarded as a more short-term-focused solution.

Dëmin did say that the procedure was successful, and that everything “went well,” while awkwardly skirting right around the details: “I don’t think it’s something that we’re trying to focus on right now. And, you know, the details isn’t the important part. I think the important part is what’s following that, right? And how we get my recovery the best way possible.”

In Brooklyn’s March 9 announcement, they said Dëmin was “expected to return to basketball activity early in the offseason and be a full participant in the summer development program,” though when asked about potentially playing in Las Vegas Summer League, the teenager wasn’t ready to give a firm answer: “I think it’s a little too far, yet, to really talk about it.”

Dëmin did, however, open up about his now-complete rookie season. He started 45 of his 52 games, and most importantly, shot 38.5% from three on high volume after shooting 27.3% from deep in his lone season at BYU. Not just that, but he made big ones too, shooting 8-of-17 in clutch situations. No doubt it’s a small sample, but try to tell any Nets fan/player/coach that Dëmin isn’t a real shooter…

The numbers, though, aren’t what Dëmin is taking away from his first NBA go-round: “Being a rookie who has an opportunity to start as a starting point guard, right, which is even probably more responsibility than later on, when Nolan would get on the court and I started playing more of a wing. I think that’s something that gave me a lot, just from a standpoint of learning and growing as a player, as a vocal … trying to be a leader and all that.”

Now, Dëmin’s summer of reflection, and yes, weight-lifting, begins early. This is a stark departure from the previous few summers for the young Russian, hopping from Real Madrid to BYU to the NBA. Dëmin’s situation is now stable, or “safe,” as he put it. The whirlwind of his prep-to-pro journey has slowed all the way down to the monotonous grind of rehab.

“It’s pretty interesting, because it makes me think about these past years,” said Dëmin. “And then, I didn’t really have that much of a complete summer for all this time, basically, only probably one before I went to BYU … I think, you know, it feels safe, I would say. I just, I know exactly where I’m going to be. I know exactly what I’m going to be doing, and I know exactly what type of timing throughout the summer I’m going to have, right? So it kind of gives me confidence in my development, and that’s why I think this summer is probably one of the most important summers in my life.”

Unsurprisingly, it hasn’t been easy for Dëmin to sit idly by and watch from the sidelines: “I just really want to play basketball. Sometimes, I feel like for athletes, when you know that you can run, it’s enough for you to just go and play. I don’t want to — I don’t want to say that people would let me go and play with injury, like, that’s not what I’m saying — It’s just about, you know, me trying to recover as best as I can, right? In the season, it’s pretty hard for me being a rookie, as I said before, by just being in the process of that many games for the first time.

Plantar fasciitis is (clearly) no joke, particularly during the interminable 82-game schedule. Nets fans may recall the one time Joe Johnson was profoundly unclutch, as he averaged under 15 points per game on 48.6% true shooting in the 2013 playoff loss to the Chicago Bulls while dealing with the injury — but at least, this way, Dëmin does get a head start on his summer.

Like his player, Fernández wouldn’t commit to a summer league appearance (in four-and-a-half months) for the #8 overall pick, but reading between the tea leaves, it seems that that’s the initial expectation. Fernández even let this slip, speaking about Dëmin: “You got all this time to work and better and go into summer league.”

Egor Dëmin may need to hit the weight room this summer. But for a guy whose selection at #8 overall drew wrath from fans and analysts alike, he gave Nets fans plenty to cheer for in his rookie season. Maybe because it’s a fanbase starved for rookie talent, maybe because Dëmin is a great, honest quote, or that there’s little more exciting in basketball that tough shot-making…

In any case, Egor Dëmin’s season is over. Now we all look to the future.

• Nets’ Egor Demin eager to start offseason recovery work after rookie year took toll on injury – Brian Lewis – New York Post