The Brooklyn Nets' 0-5 start to the season has been a reminder of how ugly a rebuild can be. Jordi Fernandez's squad has looked non-competitive and, at times, embarrassing through its first five appearances.

Brooklyn's rotation features two rookie point guards in Ben Saraf and Egor Demin. Michael Porter Jr. pointed to the duo's struggles when assessing the team's inauspicious start.

“I think it starts off with the point guard spot. It's really hard to win in the NBA when, you know, we have a lot of rookie point guards who are going to be great in this league for a long time, but they're still rookies,” Porter Jr. said. “I think the point guard position may be the hardest position in the game, and we have a lot of young guys playing that spot. So it's really hard to win when that point guard spot isn't solidified. I think Ben [Saraf] is doing a great job picking things up, and I think Egor [Demin], but they're still rookies. I don't think as a rookie, I was ready to really contribute to winning. So I think it's going to be a work in progress.

“I think that's the number one thing that as the season goes on, those guys get more experience and we're going to become better as a team because of it. But right now, you know, we're just working through some struggles collectively. It's not just on the point guard position. I just think that's kind of expected with the fact that these guys are rookies and they're playing the hardest position there is to play on the floor.”

After finishing with the NBA's sixth-worst record last season and falling to the eighth pick in June's draft, the Nets have taken measures to ensure a better draft result in 2026. The most notable was their decision to enter the season with exclusively rookies at point guard.

After Dennis Schroder's high-level play led the team to a surprise 9-10 start last season, this year's rookie point guard experiment is producing the intended tanking results.

Are Nets' rookie point guards to blame for 0-5 start to season?

Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin (8) dribbles against San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) in the second half at Frost Bank Center.
Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

Demin, Saraf and Nolan Traore have each struggled to make an impact during their first NBA appearances. Head coach Jordi Fernandez benched his rookie point guards in favor of journeyman Tyrese Martin during the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 117-112 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

While rookie development is at the top of the Nets' priorities, Fernandez made it clear that none of the draft picks' playing time is guaranteed.

“It's about us, and whoever helps right then to help the team fight,” he said after benching Demin and Saraf. “Here, there's nothing given to anybody, so I'm just rewarding [Tyrese], who has had a great summer, and he's playing well [now]. That's very simple.”

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While Brooklyn's point guard play has been subpar, it hasn't been the most significant factor in the team's struggles. The Nets' 114.9 offensive rating ranks 14th in the NBA, and their 54.0 effective field goal percentage ranks 16th. They're not turning the ball over at an alarming rate, ranking 15th at 15.8 per game.

Brooklyn's defense, however, has reached historic lows.

The Nets allowed 522 points (130.5 per game) through their first four games, the most in franchise history. Their 129.1 defensive rating ranks dead-last in the league, nearly eight points below the 29th-ranked Toronto Raptors. Brooklyn's best defensive performance came on Wednesday, when they allowed a struggling Hawks team without Trae Young to score 117 points on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 39.4 percent from three.

Fernandez ripped his team's defensive effort pregame on Wednesday.

“A lot of these plays come with all the hustle stats. We're not there in deflections… We haven't taken one charge. We're not there in verticalities. We're behind on all those things, and that comes with effort and activity. I know we can be better. It's just a matter of trying for more than two out of 16 quarters,” the coach said.

The Nets have lacked the personnel and desire to execute Fernandez's aggressive defensive scheme. Brooklyn's starting lineup features Porter Jr. and Cam Thomas, neither of whom is known for their defense, along with rookie point guard Saraf. Brooklyn's wing rotation of Terance Mann, Tyrese Martin, Jalen Wilson and Noah Clowney does not feature a high-level point-of-attack defender.

Conversely, the team's offense has struggled to find consistency due to its lack of ball-handling and shot creation.

“We're going to have to figure [it out]. Something's gotta change, I think, in terms of maybe the groups that are on the floor together or certain things,” Porter Jr. said. “Because we're having good runs and then we're letting go of the rope and teams are going on runs. But our job is to show up here and work hard and go out on the floor and give our full effort. The rest is up to the coaches, and we trust them. I think going forward, we take these five games, we evaluate what we did well and what we did poorly, and then we make some adjustments and we go from there.”