Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin underwent a non-surgical procedure to address his season-ending plantar fascia injury. The No. 8 pick said the procedure was successful and that he's focused on getting his body prepared for the start of next season.
“Everything went well,” Demin said. “Now it’s just the process of rehab and getting back on the court as soon as the season ends, as we planned, and hopefully everything’s going to go in the right direction, and I’ll be able to get back to work as soon as I can… After the many games I’ve played this season, it’s been pretty weird just to wake up and have my own kind of routine and a little bit of a deeper routine than normally. But at the same time, it was pretty much the same. I’m still around the team every practice, game, walkthrough and shootaround.”
Demin missed most of last offseason due to a plantar fascia tear in his left foot. The 19-year-old appeared in 52 games this season before the Nets shut him down due to “increased plantar fasciitis” in the same foot.
Egor Demin getting early start on offseason after season-ending foot injury
When asked what his non-surgical procedure entailed, Demin declined to get into specifics.
“I don’t think that's something that we’re trying to focus on right now. The details aren’t the important part,” he said. “The important part is what’s following that and how we get my recovery [going] the best way possible for me to get back on the court as soon as I can.”
Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez also declined to reveal the nature of Demin's procedure but hinted that the guard could be ready to play in Summer League in July.
“It was successful. I’m not qualified to explain exactly what it was, but it was to make his plantar fasciitis better and find the best way for him to take the next step and get stronger and so forth,” Fernandez said. “So it went well, and he’ll be ready to go at some point in the offseason, which is great because then you have all this time to work, get better, and go into Summer League.”
Demin exceeded expectations during his rookie campaign after the Nets' selection of him with their first lottery pick in 15 years drew criticism. The 19-year-old averaged 10.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists on .399/.385/.831 shooting splits. He ranks second in three-point percentage among 15 rookies with over 160 attempts, trailing only Kon Kneuppel (43.7).
The Nets' net rating was 3.6 points better per 100 possessions with Demin on the court vs. off, the second-best mark among 17 players younger than 21 years old who have played over 900 minutes this season, behind only Kneuppel (+5.5).
Demin's plantar fascia injury left him immobile for an extended period last summer. The Russian floor general is looking forward to a full offseason of training before his sophomore campaign.
“These past years, I didn’t really have that much of a complete summer for all this time,” Demin said. “Probably only one before I went to BYU, during which I was also changing places [from Madrid to Utah], which obviously was a little bit stressful. Now, I know exactly where I’m going to be, I know exactly what I’m going to be doing, and I know exactly what type of timing throughout the summer I’m going to have. So it kind of gives me confidence in my development. That’s why I think this summer is probably one of the most important summers in my life.
“It’s hard to call it a summer, the summer I had last year. With the draft, pre-draft workouts, my foot injury, and all that. But I’m really excited about this summer, and it started basically now. Not many players get an opportunity to get prepared for this summer before they actually start the summer workouts. So I got this chance now, so I’m trying to be intentional with whatever I have.”
