After drafting three point guards in the first round in June, why would Brooklyn trade for a fourth that had been a first-round pick just two years ago?

Partly because they liked Kobe Bufkin that year, but he was long gone by the time they picked.

Maybe Nets assistant Juwan Howard, who had coached him at Michigan, put in a good word. But the main reason was simple.

“I don’t think you ever have enough ball handlers, right? Making plays for others is always important,” said coach Jordi Fernández, who saw his Nets add Bufkin to a point-guard platoon that includes rookies Egor Dëmin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf.

Bufkin played for Howard at Michigan and was on the Nets’ radar in 2023, but went No. 15 to the Hawks — six spots ahead of where Brooklyn took Noah Clowney.

But Bufkin made just

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