Brooklyn Nets rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. heads into the 2026-27 NBA season with the opportunity to be the starting point guard for the Nets on opening night against the Charlotte Hornets. Brooklyn was able to see Brown in action during the summer circuit and while he looked solid, there are some around the league who doubt how productive he will be next season.
HoopsHype put out its list of the top-27 point guards for next season on Friday and Brown did not make the list, giving an indication of how the outlet views him. More to the point, HoopsHype also included a section for players that just missed the cut and those three players were Kingston Flemings of the Atlanta Hawks, Andrew Nembhard of the Indiana Pacers, and Davion Mitchell of the Miami Heat.
Brown, 20, is coming off a summer circuit in the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League in which he averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 38.8% from the field and 34.6% from behind the three-point line. While Brown had plenty of good moments over the summer, he still has to compete with Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf to be the starting point guard next season.
When it comes to this list and how Brown ranks amongst his position in the 2026 class, there are two players listed ahead of him so he could still be one of the best point guards in the most recent draft class. Flemings was listed amongst the point guards who just missed the cut so he could rank anywhere between 28-30 while Darryn Peterson of the Utah Jazz is regarded as the No. 13 best point guard for next season.
At this point, Brown is focused on learning how to play point guard at the NBA level and league history has taught that most young point guards struggle at first because of the learning curve from college to the pros. However, Brown seems to operate with a confidence in himself that leads some to believe that he could be one of those young point guards that figures it out sooner than later.
HoopsHype put together its list of the top-27 point guards for the 2026-27 NBA season, but Mikel Brown Jr. didn't make the list. HoopsHype also added 3 players that missed the cut, but Kingston Flemings made it into that section and Brown didn't.https://t.co/f8Np7YSSHV
— Sharif Phillips-Keaton (@SharifKeaton) August 15, 2026
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Mikel Brown Jr. not ranked among the top-30 NBA point guards