Egor Demin responds to the challenge of Jordi Fernandes during the historic victory

Jordi Fernandez Yegor Demin called Friday after the Brooklyn Nets loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Novak accepted it and responded during Sunday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Demin put in one of his best performances of the season as the Nets embarrassed the Bucks127-82, at the Barclays Center. 19 year old published a a team-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting with three rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in the win, which tied the most in franchise history.

“Very, very proud of (Egor). (Jordi) challenged Egor, he challenged Drake (Powell), and both responded beautifully, with an edge,” said assistant Steve Hetzel, who replaced the ailing Fernandez. “It’s another step in their progression. They took a big step in playing bad and then responding. And that’s what the NBA is about. You play them 82. You have to quickly forget about the last one, move on and play better, which both of them did.”

Rookie of the net Egor Demin 17 points (6-8 FG, 2-4 3P, 91% TS), 3 AST, 3 REB, 2 STL, 1 BLK, +20 (+/-) vs. https://t.co/4auObUJCJm pic.tvitter.com/cjrgkjfkkS

— Role Player Performances (@BenchHighlights) December 15, 2025

Gary Trent Jr. pats Yegor Demin in the face and talks trash after taking him down and scoring.

Demin drops to the other side, drops a step back three and barks at GTJ across the field. Nice to see some fire from a rookie. pic.twitter.com/JDo1KSV2HoV

— Eric Slater (@erikslater_) December 15, 2025

Fernandez benched Demin after Friday’s loss. The Russian floor general played 18 minutes and only two in the fourth quarter, finishing with three points on 1-of-7 shooting with one assist and two turnovers.

Egor Demin returns during Nets’ win after Jordi Fernandez’s criticism

Meanwhile, Powell played just 2:40 after a couple of first-quarter fouls. But like Demin, the rookie wing bounced back, posting 13 points, four rebounds and three assists on 4-of-7 shooting Sunday.

“It’s all a process,” Demin said. “Obviously, I want to get better every game, but sometimes there are days like that, and I just have to really watch film, figure out what I did wrong and what I could have done better. Talk to the coaches and talk to the players, and learn from it, and move on to the next one. Because obviously there’s a lot of games and I haven’t done a season yet, trying to learn how to move on to the next one.

A short memory is a prerequisite for a successful NBA career. Demin is learning that lesson after dominating during his youth days in Russia and two seasons at Real Madrid.

“Honestly, I haven’t lost (many) games in my life,” Demin said. “Coming from Moscow to Spain, there were a few big ones, but overall, I was (always) in a really winning team, and it always hurt when we lost some big games,” Demin said. “In Spain, in three years, I lost probably three games… In college, I really had to start learning how to overcome those bad games. Even sometimes when we win, but I’m not good with my performance or whatever. Or when we lose.

“There’s so many games and I just have to (learn). In college I started learning about it. (BIU) coach (Kevin Young) is obviously from the NBA. He’s like, ‘You’ve got to go to the next one.’ You can’t just stay with what happened yesterday.”

After a slow start to the season, Demin turned the corner as he stepped in as Brooklyn’s starting quarterback. In 16 games as a starter, he averaged 10.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 turnovers on .401/.364/.923 shooting.

Demin and Kon Kneppel are the only NBA rookies averaging 10 points and four assists on over 35 percent shooting from three in that span.