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BYU's Egor Demin, center, speaks at a news conference announcing his intention to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft flanked by head coach Kevin Young (right) and former BYU player Travis Hansen (left) at the Marriott Center Annex on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Egor Demin rises up for a shot against Alabama in an NCAA Sweet 16 men's basketball game at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Thursday, March 27, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Egor Demin (center) speaks at a news conference announcing his intention to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft at the Marriott Center Annex on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Egor Demin, right, talks with BYU Sports Nation hosts Spencer Linton (left) and Jarom Jordan (center) during an interview on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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If Egor Demin had allowed his heart to decide the most important question of his young life, he would be returning to Provo for a second season with BYU basketball.

Demin felt a strong emotional pull to continue playing for the Cougars but the promise of realizing a childhood dream and becoming a professional basketball player was too great to resist.

“I’m super excited to announce that I will be putting my name into the NBA draft,” Demin said in a news conference at the Marriott Center Annex on Tuesday. “It’s another challenge that I’m willing to take and I’m not scared of any troubles that I could meet at this path.”

BYU fans were hopeful after a cryptic social media post on Monday that Demin would return to play for the Cougars in 2025-26 and there were plenty of reasons for the freshman point guard from Russia to consider such a move. Demin clearly enjoyed his time at BYU and living the college life. On the basketball floor, Demin showed improvement over the course of the season and had three strong games in the NCAA Tournament to showcase his abilities. He would have commanded a large NIL offer to stay and was tempted to return to play with incoming freshman A.J. Dybantsa, the No. 1-rated high school player in the country.

In the end, Demin consulted with his parents, head coach Kevin Young and advisor Travis Hansen to make his decision. Demin called Hansen, a former BYU standout who played professionally in Russia, “my mentor, my best friend and almost my older brother.”

Demin also spoke in both Spanish (to his former teammates and friends at Real Madrid) and Russian (to his family) to express his gratitude for their influence in his life.

“This is a dream that I was living since the very first day when I took the ball in my hands,” Demin said. “I’m just super excited for everything I’ve gone through until this moment, the hard work I was putting into that and the hard work that people around me were putting in, building this together with me.

“This place is amazing for development, and all the young guys who are looking toward BYU, this place is full of smart people and dedicated people who are putting in the work into the process for you and trying to make you better. It’s about everybody in this program and this huge BYU family.”

Demin averaged 13.7 points, 5.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game as a freshman, breaking Danny Ainge’s freshman record with 180 assists. Demin was honorable mention All-Big 12 and a member of the league’s All-Freshman team while helping the Cougars to a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. BYU finished 13th in the final Associated Press poll of the season, released on Tuesday.

There were bumps along the way as well. Demin went through a bad stretch from the 3-point line in the middle of the season and finished the year with 97 turnovers, showing there was still room for improvement in his game.

Young brought Demin to Provo last summer knowing he would likely get only one season to coach the talented Russian.

“I just told him whatever his decision was, we were going to be fully behind him,” said Young, a long-time NBA assistant coach before taking the head coaching job at BYU last spring. “These types of decisions are so personal for every guy. I just shared with him my experience with guys coming into the league and things that are challenges as a rookie in general. Going though the draft process, I think it’s a lot more grueling than people understand with how much mental energy goes into all the interviews and workouts and this and that.”

With Demin leaving and point guards Dallin Hall and Elijah Crawford already in the transfer portal, the next few months will be busy for Young and his coaching staff as they work to fill out next year’s roster.

“One thing I really tried to do when I took this job was to set up an infrastructure that allows us to cover a lot of ground in all parts of our program,” Young said. “We essentially have an NBA front office, so to speak, that’s been scouting players since the day we stepped foot in here. Our staff is well versed. We have a lot of connections all over the country and all over the world as well. So we have a good grip a good handle, I would say, on who is out there. So we’re relying on the work that we’ve put in for many months.

“We’ve got a lot of good players that are coming back from last year’s team. I think the continuity piece next to a high-end talent like A.J. is going to be critical. And then, Richie (Saunders) is a guy that really put himself on the map in a major way this year and so you’re going to have a lot of talent that’s out there on the floor. We’re just trying to make sure we put the right pieces around those guys, and continue to build what we’ve done. We don’t ever want to make any rash and quick decisions. In today’s day and age in college athletics, I think you can get caught up in the storm that is the portal. So we’re trying to just be calculated in the moves that we make and we feel like we’re on a decent path to do that.”

Demin said that he prayed and talked to family in preparation for his big decision, with an answer coming just a few days ago. The 6-foot-9 point guard, who is considered a lottery pick (among the first 14 selections), will begin training for NBA workouts and the league’s draft is scheduled for June 25.

“My heart was pulling me back here super hard, because I just love this place so much,” Demin admitted. “Everything and everybody here means everything to me, and it’s hard to even express how important for me was this year.

“Today I’m closing one chapter here but I’m opening a new one, and I think what is most important for me is that I’m not leaving you guys here. I’m taking you with me the whole way through my career and through my life and I’m willing to represent the BYU logo and the BYU name everywhere I go. Anything I’m doing it come with you, too and everybody who was with me.”