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Nets push Drake Powell out of his comfort zone with G League stint

Drake Powell is still in the G League as the Nets face the Detroit Pistons Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, and given where Brooklyn is in the season, it might be the cleanest development play they’ve made with him in a while.

The Nets sent their rookie first-round pick to Long Island on Feb. 27, a move that came in the middle of an extended shooting slump. Brooklyn recalled fellow rookie Ben Saraf to the big club at the same time and also signed Grant Nelson to a 10-day contract.

For Powell, the No. 19 pick in the 2025 draft, it served as a reset. Across his first 30 appearances, the former Tar Heel averaged 6.4 points in 16.9 minutes per game while shooting 46.0% from the field and 32.4% from 3-point range. However, over his final 17 appearances before the assignment, Powell averaged 5.2 points in 19.1 minutes, and his efficiency dipped to 35.4% from the field and 20.9% from deep.

Brooklyn’s answer was to send him somewhere he could play through mistakes and re-find his touch without nightly NBA pressure, and there’s precedent for this approach. Nolan Traoré struggled in the preseason and his early NBA minutes, then went down to Long Island where he had an impressive G League run. The French floor general came back to the big club and has since become the team’s full-time starting point guard.

Powell fits that idea in his own way. He’s a player who needs to be pushed outside his comfort zone, and the G League does that. It forces him to raise a usage rate that’s been consistently low and gives him the chance to build the confidence and skill set that translates when he’s back in the NBA. Right now, that’s more valuable than living in a low-usage role with the big club.

Over his last three games with Long Island, Powell has averaged 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 29.3 minutes per game. He erupted for 21 points against the Greensboro Swarm on Wednesday, a promising sign for his development.

While Powell has been in Long Island, Saraf has seen extended minutes in Brooklyn’s rotation. Saraf averaged 15.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists across 15 outings with Long Island, and he entered Saturday averaging 5.8 points and 2.8 assists in 17.3 minutes per game over his last four appearances with the Nets.

Long Island returns to action Sunday against the Osceola Magic at Silver Spurs Arena. For now, Powell is right where the Nets want him, in an environment where he can play more, do more and learn faster.



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