Egor Dëmin has known for weeks he’d be headed to All-Star weekend. Friday night, the Nets rookie will finally get to step onto the floor for the NBA Rising Stars Challenge.
“It’s exciting,” Dëmin said. “It’s an honor to be a part of it.”
The event, set for 9 p.m. ET at Intuit Dome and airing on Peacock, gathers much of the league’s young core for a four-team mini-tournament. Three squads of NBA rookies and sophomores will be led by Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, while a fourth team of G League standouts will be coached by Austin Rivers.
Dëmin slots onto Team Vince, alongside VJ Edgecombe, Derik Queen, Kyshawn George, Matas Buzelis, Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells.
Team Melo features Reed Sheppard, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Jeremiah Fears, Donovan Clingan and Collin Murray-Boyles, with Ace Bailey replacing Cooper Flagg.
Team T-Mac includes Kon Knueppel, Kel’el Ware, Tre Johnson, Ajay Mitchell, Jaylon Tyson and Cam Spencer, with Bub Carrington in for Alex Sarr.
The G League group under Rivers will roll out Sean East II, Ron Harper Jr., Yanic Konan Niederhäuser, Alijah Martin, Tristen Newton, Yang Hansen, Mac McClung and David Jones Garcia.
Taken eighth overall out of BYU, Dëmin is one of 10 rookies selected. For Brooklyn, the nod carries weight. It’s the franchise’s first Rising Stars participant since 2019, another sign that the work being poured into its young core is starting to resonate outside the building.
It also says plenty about how quickly Dëmin has reshaped the narrative around himself.
After shooting 27.3% from deep in college, he has lifted that number by 12.3% in the NBA, the second-largest jump in this draft class. The growth has arrived with real volume and in real moments.
Through 46 games, Dëmin has buried 116 3-pointers. That’s second among rookies this season and already the second most by a rookie in franchise history, trailing only Kerry Kittles. At 2.5 per game, he’s on pace to make a run at the record by year’s end.
League-wide, the company is just as telling. He’s tied with Kevin Durant and Dillon Brooks for the 38th-most threes made this season. He shares the rookie lead in fourth-quarter makes with Knueppel, a total that also sits inside the NBA’s top 10 overall. He has six or more in a game three times and at least five in eight, the most by a first-year Net.
The shooting might be the headline, but it isn’t the whole story. Dëmin ranks ninth among rookies in assists, eighth in assists per game, seventh in assist percentage and 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Friday brings a different stage, a sprint instead of a marathon, and a court filled with the peers who have shaped this class from the start.
For Dëmin, it’s recognition. It’s opportunity.
And it’s another step in a rookie season that keeps opening doors.
