Brooklyn Nets rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. came into this season with plenty of hype after being selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Brooklyn has been bringing Brown along slowly as they try to manage him after he dealt with a back injury during his freshman season at the University of Louisville, but some around the league believe he should be starting.

"it's time for the Nets, in my opinion, to start Mikel Brown. Give him the keys. This is your franchise point guard [there is] no need to just play around with it. He is your guy," Rafael Barlowe said on a recent episode of the "NBA Draft Junkies" podcast. Rafael and his co-host and brother, James, cover the NBA Draft in various ways with Rafael being a former NBA scout.

"I think tonight's game [against the Boston Celtics], even though they lost and his highs were extremely high and he had some lows at the end of the game, you see the talent," James Barlowe said on Brown. "Tonight showed you the promise. Even with the missed layup at the end of the game, he had three threes rim out. He did everything he could to try to close out that game."

Brown, 20, is averaging 12.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 33.8% from the field and 29.7% from behind the three-point line in 22.8 minutes per game. Brown is coming off arguably his best game of the season as he put up 18 points (6-of-11 from the field, 3-of-5 from deep), two rebounds, and four assists in a shade under 20 minutes played in Wednesday's 114-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets.

As Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has said multiple times this season, Brown will continue to come off the bench, but the thinking could change once the rookie is able to play more than his current minutes restriction. However, given how well Brown has been playing recently behind players like Nolan Traore and Egor Demin, it's understandable for some people to be wondering how long it will be before he enters the starting lineup.