A decade ago, we were told that at least one NBA team stopped talking with the Nets, complaining that the team’s front office would leak trade inquiries to the media. Also, a decade ago, the Nets chief scout, aka director of player personnel, would announce which prospects were coming into the Championship Center in East Rutherford, then after the workout would brief the media on how it had gone.
That at changed when Sean Marks walked in the door. Above the exit to the team conference meeting room, he attached a sign, “Disagree and Commit.” both a mantra but also a warning: whatever was said in this room should not go any further. Disagree inside this room, but don’t take those disagreements outside it. No leaks, period.
Against this backdrop, the 2026 Draft has left not just fans but certified pundits and draftniks mystified about what the Nets are about to do. It’s a closed shop.
As Sam Vecenie of The Athletic and the New York Times wrote:
The Nets continue to befuddle the league relatively, and I’ve heard a lot of what will likely turn out to be misinformation regarding their plans. That’s partly because the Nets have engendered a belief league-wide that they evaluate draft prospects differently than many other teams. I’ve heard all the guard prospects in this range for them. The Ament buzz has quieted down in the last week
Brett Siegel of Clutch Points similarly wrote of attempts of figure out the Nets strategy:
[T]he rumored interest of the Nets taking a long look at Ament continues to make its rounds from team to team. Could Ament actually be the player Sean Marks wants to add? This wouldn’t be shocking whatsoever, as the Nets have a very unique way of drafting and do not always go with the status quo, which we tend to believe when looking at mock drafts and big boards.
And Brooklyn native Mike Scotto admits he too is perplexed:
Should Brooklyn remain at six, who they’ll select is a bit of a mystery to teams around the league, considering the Nets have been linked to guards Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown Jr., Kingston Flemings, forward Nate Ament, and center Aday Mara at various points.
In other words, they don’t pay a lot of attention to what others are saying. As we — Lucas Kaplan and Connor Long included — have learned, most of what we know about the Nets plans for the Draft come from other teams scouts and front office staff along with agents, all trying to divine just what Sean Marks and co. are planning. Writers talk about “rival teams” having a “sense” about what Brooklyn will do. For all they and we know, the Nets could be planning a big surprise. They often do this time of year.
The single biggest indicator of interest we’ve seen about any of the prospects — that the Nets had visited Mikel Brown Jr. in Orlando — apparently was sourced from a member of the Brown family, not from inside.
And this part of Nets culture is not just about discouraging leaks from the inside. It’s also about spreading disinformation about their intentions — active measures. A few years back when the Trail Blazers were getting ready to move on from Damian Lillard, there was a lot of speculation that the Nets were interested in him. They were not.
In the next two days, expect that there will be a little more intel, some of it even accurate, but Marks would only be too happy if no one knows what he plans until Adam Silver intones, “with the sixth pick, the Brooklyn Nets select…”
Final Workout List
As we’ve noted, the 20 or so invites to the Draft’s “Green Room” are in New York for the usual round of interviews and visits to city landmarks like the Empire State Building and Times Square. The Nets and the Knicks have a bit of advantage in that they can invite prospects to their training facilities right up to Tuesday morning, as long as they haven’t exceeded the league maximum of two workouts/interviews.
Indeed on Sunday, it looks like they have used that advantage and brought in a top pick, Morez Johnson Jr., the 6’9” rim protecting Michigan power forward who would seem to be way high for the No. 6 pick, but just around right if Brooklyn is looking to trade into the middle of the first round. It could be a one-on-none workout or others could have been invited to 168 39th Street in Sunset Park.
We’ve been keeping track of who’s been in, as best we can (see above) and here’s what we got:
First, the potential lottery picks:
- Darius Acuff, Arkansas’s 6’2″ lead guard who is, along with Mikel Brown probably the prospect most linked with the Nets at No. 6.
- Mikel Brown, the 6’4″ Louisville lead guard who the Nets worked out at a gym near his Orlando home … and visited with his family. He’ll be at HSS Training Center soon for his second look-see.
- Kingston Flemings, yet another lead guard, from Houston. The most athletic of the four or five but at 6’3″ with only a 6’4″ wingspan the smallest as well. He’s scheduled.
- Nate Ament, seen as a top four prospect both coming out of high school and in early mock drafts, the 6’10” Rwandan-American wing is polarizing following a disappointing season at Tennessee.
- Karim Lopez, who Ament went up against Tuesday at HSS, is an Mexican who played for New Zealand in the Australian league where he was the top young player.
- Morez Johnson, one of three possible picks out of Michigan’s national championship squad. The 6’9” Johnson exploded at the NBA combine showing off considerable rim-protecting talents.
And the rest. It should be noted that the Nets and other teams as well work out players not just for the big team’s roster but for the G League as well as summer league rosters and training camp invites.
- Trevon Brazile, Darius Acuff’s teammate at Arkansas, a 6’10” senior who’s been mocked to the Nets in the second round:
- Ben Humrichous, Keaton Wagler’s teammate at Illinois, a 6’9” senior.
- A.K. Okereke, Vanderbilt’s 6’7” sharpshooting forward who hit 40% of his threes this season.
- Chase Ross, Marquette’s 6’6” sharpshooting wing who hit 36% of his threes. Also, a bit of a 3-and-D possibility.
- Keba Keita, the 6’9” BYU center from the west African nation of Mali who played with both Dybantsa and Egor Demin;
- Cruz Davis, Hofstra’s high scoring 6’3” lead guard. Could he fit with nearly Long Island Nets;
- Malik Dia, a 6’9” 3-and-D type who played at Vanderbilt, Belmont, then his final two years at Ole Miss;
- Grant Newell, another 6’9” forward who played at California, North Texas and most recently Western Kentucky;
- Jevon Porter, a 6’11’ center for Missouri who at 22, is MPJ’s younger brother.
- Xaivian Lee, a 6’4” lead guard who finished his career at Florida after three solid years at Princeton. A Korean-Canadian.
- Brenen Lorient, a 6’9” wing who shot 38.9% from deep for his career at West Virginia and before that at Florida Atlantic and North Texas.
- Fletcher Loyer, 6’5” 3-point specialist for Purdue who is the brother of Nets head video coordinator Foster Loyer and son of New Jersey Nets assistant John Loyer.
- Tramon Mark, a 6’6” shooting guard who led the Texas Longhorns in scoring.
- Collin Parker, Austin Peay’s 40.4% 3-point wing who at 6’8” is one of several tall sharpshooters who’ve been in.
- Nick Pringle, a 6’10” bruiser who played with Darius Acuff at Houston.
- Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon’s 6’7” wing, a 3-point specialist.
- Isaac McKeenly, Mikel Brown’s 6’4” backcourt running mate at Louisville and another 3-point specialist;
- Kobe Knox, a 6’5” wing at South Carolina named for Kobe Bryant;
- Corey Stephenson a 6’6” shooting guard who played last season FIU after two years at UCSB;.
- Dain Dainja, a 6’9” forward who averaged 14 points and six rebounds for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce last season;
- Kowacie Reeves, a 6’7” German wing who shot nearly 40% from three at Georgia Tech last season on his way to 15.1 ppg season;
- Peter Suder, a 6’5” senior from Miami (Ohio) who hit better than 40% of his shots from deep;
- Bruce Thornton, at 6’2”, he is, along with Darius Acuff, the shortest prospect we’ve seen. The Ohio State senior was one of the top scorers in the Big 10 at 19.9 per game.
That’s 29 in total, probably less than half the number of total prospects.
Draft Sleeper of the Week
This is the last one, obviously. In the eight previous “sleeper” sections, we’ve looked at three of the four lead guards: Darius Acuff of Arkansas, Mikel Brown Jr. of Louisville and Keaton Wagler of Illinois. In addition, we’ve looked at three international players, Karim Lopez of Mexico, Sergio De Larrea of Spain, Luigi Suigo of Italy (who dropped out of the Draft and will attend Villanova) as well as Iowa State’s point forward Joshua Jefferson. And way back before the Lottery, we profiled A.J. Dybantsa. Oh well.
So who’s missing? Kingston Flemings of Houston, the fourth lead guard … and Nate Ament whose name you may have heard amidst much weeping and gnashing in some sectors of Nets Twitter. Interesting fellow. Let’s start with his parents, former Wayne State star Albert Ament and Godelive Mukankuraga. The two met in Rwanda where both worked for Catholic Relief Services, part of the group’s efforts in the aftermath of the Genocide Against Tutsi in Rwanda.
They eventually moved to Manassas, Virginia where their son, Nate, was born and starred both at the local high school and then a private school. He first broke onto the national scene in 2023-24 when he starred on the AAU circuit with Team Loaded Virginia, then landed a spot on the Team USA Under-18 team, winning the gold in Buenos Aires. Darius Acuff and Mikel Brown Jr. were the stars of that team.
“It was amazing winning the gold medal,” he later told The New Times, a Rwandan magazine who profiled him. “I was very proud. I feel that I represented only my country but also my family. I had a lot of fun with my teammates. and it was great to see the world.”
Then, last summer, after committing to Tennessee, he was one of the dominant players at the McDonald’s All-American game at Barclays Center.
Jonathan Givony of Draft Express told Nate Duncan two days ago that Ament and Darryn Peterson were the stars of the game…
“We walked out of the McDonald’s All-American Game last year in Brooklyn, there were NBA GMs asking, ‘tell me why this guy isn’t the No. 1 pick in the Draft.‘ He was that impressive in the game. It was him and Darryn Peterson. (A.J.) Dybantsa was awful that whole week in Brooklyn, like practices, scrimmages.”
By then, he had risen to the top ranks of preseason mock drafts, topping off at No. 4. Then, his freshman year at Tennessee, he disappointed with shooting splits of 40/33/79 and some deeper concerns. In his final collegiate game vs. Michigan which featured NBA sized front court of Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara and Yaxel Lindeborg, he finished with seven points on 2-of-12 shooting and fouled out. Tennessee got wiped out by the eventual national champ.
Overall at Tennessee, there were issues with his consistency, his strength, his athleticism etc. Still, as Givony’s commentary on Ament noted, there were positives, especially with the longer arc of his trajectory
“He was really up and down. There questions about his toughness. His athleticism is a major concern, 43% from two. So, am I telling you a million percent that he’s going to make it? No, but I’m intrigued because I’m seen him in different settings. I’ve seen him the improvement that he’s made.
“First time I saw him, at the U18 Camp two summers ago, even before that – I think it was April (2024) at USA, he was like a bean pole then. He was 180 pounds. He was afraid of his shadow. But he gained 30 pounds in the last two years. Is he a real player yet? No, but I just like the trajectory.
“I look at his body now. His body is going to be awesome in three or four years, then you’re looking at a guy who’s 6’11”, who’s 225 who can handle the ball, who can make shots who’s an awesome kid. He’s shown some passing. That’s a pretty interesting player.“
He also thinks that he may not have reached his full potential at Tennessee because of his fit in Rick Barnes system, suggesting that he might even work as 2 in the NBA.
“He has these really long strides. He can push off the glass. Then you know he can do things off the dribble. He can actually play pick and roll,” Givony told Duncan. “The issue that he ran into was that he was playing the 3 on a Tennessee team that had very little shooting and they really played two bigs next to him.
“I think he’s got a little more shot creation in the pick-and-roll game that what he was able to show. I think he was a better passer than he was able to show. I think the spacing in the NBA game will help him a lot, better shooting around him will help him a lot.”
Bottom line for Givony: “He’s 6’11” in shoes, with a handle, ahot making and flashes as a passer and defender … interesting.“ Of course, Givony isn’t the only draftnik to look at Ament and see possibilities that may not evident today. Some though wonder if there isn’t some needed adjustment ins said trajectory. Our own Lucas Kaplan talked earlier in the month with Ben Pfeifer, another draft analyst (following Lucas’ breaking news on the Nets interest in Ament.)
Pfeifer’s bottom line was not nearly as positive as Givony’s. Like we and everyone else has said, he’s polarizing.
In 2025, Brooklyn drafted a smattering of future complementary pieces, and that’s what Ament projects as. Maybe the Nets view themselves as such a marquee free agent/trade destination that they’ll intentionally eschew high-end star swings like Mikel Brown Jr., Aday Mara, or Kingston Flemings for better roster/size fits. But if Ament is Brooklyn’s sixth pick, it would be an undeniably disappointing selection with potentially damaging long-term ramifications.
Indeed, we’ve written a lot about Ament in the build-up to the Draft. In 48 hours, we will see whether it was worth the effort. In the meantime, here’s some highlights:
By the way, historically, how have we done with these Draft Sleeper features over the decade and a half we’ve written them? To be fair, we’d say, horrid. Oh well.
Final Note
We’re keeping this short because starting at 8:00 p.m. ET, we will be within 48 hours of the Draft and that’s when news starts to break. In fact, we might even have to update things.
That said, we want to comment on the week’s big event in the NBA: the Knicks championship and the reaction in the City. New York is deeply, deeply in love with the Knicks team (if not their owner), thrilled with how the parade and Mayor Mamdani’s speech sent an electric charge through the five boroughs (if not their owner) etc.
The outpouring was historic and wholesome and wonderful. Good for the Knicks, their fans and the city (if not their owner.) How will it affect the Nets? That’s going to take a while to figure out. It would seem in the short run, the plan will be stay the course, keep with the plan. Long term who knows. Can the Nets make the city’s love for BASKETBALL infectious beyond MSG? Is there still validity to the generational fandom marketing strategy when everyone is wearing blue and orange? Can they please win??
We found one data point this week that we thought was interesting enough to share: The number of NetsDaily followers on Twitter, aka x.com, remained stable. In fact, it jumped, from 65,257 before the Finals to 65,280 today, no doubt driven up by Draft and free agency speculation. Thanks to those 22 new followers, by the way. We suspect that, while not scientific, it may be an indicator that the Nets fan base isn’t deserting the team in droves, particularly those who are more than casual. It’s a starting point, we guess.
