Nolan Traore’s shot still isn’t falling. Over his last four games, the Nets rookie guard is shooting just 27.3% and he’s at 31.4% on the season. Those offensive struggles are hard to hide.
But if you’ve watched Brooklyn lately, you’ve seen something else, too. Traore is starting to look like he belongs. Not just as a change-of-pace guard who can juice the tempo, but as a young floor general who’s beginning to understand what it takes to run an NBA offense possession by possession, read by read.
That progress showed up in the Nets’ 112-109 win over the Chicago Bulls Friday at Barclays Center, when head coach Jordi Fernández leaned on Traore late instead of fellow rookie Egor Dëmin. Traore ended up logging a career-high 27:57 and it wasn’t empty cardio. He finished with a career-best seven assists, stayed on the floor for nearly the entire fourth quarter and looked comfortable commanding the team in crunch time.
The bigger point wasn’t just that Traore played. It was why he played.
Fernández has been preaching physicality and defensive presence from day one, and Friday was another reminder that playing time in this rotation isn’t strictly tied to draft position, hype or future projections. It’s tied to trust. To details. To the standard Fernández has established.
“I needed Egor to lead with this physicality, and those are conversations he and I have,” Fernández said afterward. “I know he can do it… And when I see that we start the quarter or the half and he doesn’t bring that level of physicality … and same thing towards the end of the game. I thought I needed that.”
That’s not a shot at Dëmin as much as it is a snapshot of what the Nets are building. Fernández is coaching the present while developing the future, and Traore has earned his way into more meaningful minutes by doing the things young guards usually struggle with. He’s organizing, competing and making the game easier for others.
Traore is averaging 5.8 points and 5.0 assists with just 1.8 turnovers over his last four games, while playing 22.3 minutes per night off the bench. While his scoring comes and goes, his playmaking is beginning to become a constant. He’s getting downhill with purpose, forcing defenders to make choices and then punishing the help when it shows up.
“Yeah, he’s super fast,” Nic Claxton said. “Once he keeps figuring out how to utilize his speed out there, he’s going to be a problem. Just seeing this grow from day one to now, him figuring out the league, figuring out when to pick his spots, when to get downhill, when to kick out to the threes, and he has a really good feel for the game.”
Traore’s speed steals headlines, but his feel for the game is what makes it useful. Anybody can be quick. Not everybody can be quick and controlled, quick and connected, quick while still making the right pass to the right shooter at the right time. And the Nets have veterans who know the difference.
“Yeah, I mean his superpower is obviously his speed, his foot speed,” Michael Porter Jr. said, “And he’s been utilizing that, getting downhill, getting in the lane, finding guys, and he’s a great passer. So, he’s going to be really good… and I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops, him and Egor at that point guard position.”
While Traore may not be dominating games yet, he’s certainly steering them, and Noah Clowney described the impact he’s had, even without the jumper cooperating.
“He’s been doing really good getting into the paint,” Clowney said, “or even if [he’s] not getting into the paint, coming off with enough speed to pull the low man in and skip corner or hit the pull behind… Just keeping the defense honest… Elite burst, and defensively, moves his feet… but he fights. I like that.”
That last part is the key. He fights.
Traore’s still thin. Still learning angles. Still adjusting to grown-man strength and NBA whistles. He’s going to get bumped off his line. He’s going to get caught on screens. He’s going to have possessions where his body loses the battle.
But the film is showing more resistance now. More activity. More possessions where he’s not just surviving defensively, he’s competing. And that’s a major reason Fernández has stuck with him even through a cold shooting stretch, and why the coach’s confidence in the young French guard continues to grow.
“Every time he shoots, I think it’s going in, and he doesn’t hesitate to shoot the ball,” Fernández said. “That, to me, is very important because it’s going to get to the point of confidence and maturity that for the most part is always going to go in. When you lose your confidence for a little bit, he’s going to regain it back quicker.”
