NBA Player's Baptism Surprises People in Utah

Apparently the number of NBA players who ae members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints just increased by one. Tom Sitake posted pictures of Egor Dëmin's baptism on his Facebook page.

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Tom Sitake is the father of the head football coach at BYU Kalani Sitake. Dëmin is from Russia and played for the BYU basketball team in the 2024-2025 season. He was the 8th overall pick of the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Draft in 2025.

The stand out guard was friends with Travis Hansen who played professional basketball in Russia after his time at BYU. Sitake says in his post that Hansen baptized Dëmin. He shows pictures with him and his son next to Dëmin outside a church building.

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In the post Sitake also say Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Twelve Apostles was on hand and performed the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Rasband spent time with Dëmin back in February.

This isn't the only athlete from this BYU team who has joined the church. Fousseyni Traore who played with Dëmin was baptized in France back in December. He is from Mali and played four seasons for BYU and is now playing professionally in Europe.

Dëmin had expressed a belief in God while at BYU and gave credit for the university in enhancing that belief. Traore was previously Muslim who was seen as someone whose actions reflected his faith.