NBA Draft

BYU's Egor Demin Worth Lottery Dart in 2025 NBA Draft

The BYU Cougars have seen Egor Demin turn in a lottery worthy season as the 2025 NBA Draft draws near. The point guard has flaws but can he work through them?

Rylan Stiles

Feb 8, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Egor Demin (3) dribbles against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Feb 8, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Egor Demin (3) dribbles against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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The 2025 NBA Draft Class is one of the strongest prospect pools in recent memory. The lottery is full of talent and plenty of cases can be made with too many talented prospects for 14 slots.

Egor Demin is one of the most interesting talents to evaluate in this draft class out of BYU, averaging 10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.7 stocks in 23 games while shooting 42% from the floor, 27% from 3 point land (4.6 attempts per game) and 66% from the free throw line.

Demin stands 6-foot-9 and at 190 pounds with great positional size and advanced passing ability could get his name called in the top-14 picks, and should.

The BYU product has plenty of flaws. The lack of lateral quickness and physicality hinders his defensive upside, his upright dribbling could lead to turnovers at the next level, his overall lack of burst or ability to turn the corner will be exposed in the NBA when coupled with his inability to shoot off the dribble - taking him out of the picture with drop coverage in the pick-and-roll settings - and you can question the shooting upside with him not meeting the 70% threshold from the charity stripe.

Though, at the end of the lottery, no prospect is perfect. Demin is shooting 68% at the rim this season and while there are questions about his ability to finish through contact this is still an impressive mark. He ranks in the 69th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball handler and with his size should be a good cutter when put in those situations more at the next level.

His ability to set the table, read the floor and dart dazzling passes all over the court should be enough upside for a middling team to take a chance on him despite the concerns that gives shades of Josh Giddey on offense. Demin has displayed enough bright spots and good enough mechanics that all hope isn't lost for him as a shooter on high volume and if that comes around he is an entire different player.

While Demin will never be a plus defender, his baseline of cerebral play makes this scribe believe you can hide him on that end of the floor as an off-ball disruptor.

The offensive upside is too great to pass up on if you buy into the 3-point shot at all, at worst in that case he would be a high-end backup guard at best he is a starting point guard of the future for a franchise.

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Rylan Stiles
RYLAN STILES

Rylan Stiles is a credentialed media member covering the Oklahoma City Thunder. He hosts the Locked On Thunder Podcast, and is lead beat writer for Inside the Thunder. Rylan is also an award-winning play-by-play broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network. 

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