The Oklahoma City Thunder were crowned champions just three nights ago, but fans and league executives are already on to next season. The 2025 NBA Draft takes center stage Wednesday night, June 25.
Who is expected to be the first pick in the NBA Draft?
Dreams will come true for 59 basketball stars as they hear their name called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The lottery that determined the order of picks in May turned out to be a shocker, giving the Dallas Mavericks a shot at a once-in-a-decade player.
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Cooper Flagg, who led Duke to the Final Four in April and earned NCAA Player of the Year honors, will likely be taken No. 1 overall by the Mavericks. In a massive stroke of luck, the Mavs had just a 1.8% chance to win the lottery. If they take Flagg, their plan to get back to the playoffs should get a big boost. For his part, the 18-year-old already feels like a member of the team after a visit to Dallas’ facility during the pre-draft process.
“It was an incredible visit for me,” Flagg said. “To be able to go down there and see all the facilities and stuff, to get in the gym and I got a good hour and 15 minute workout in. A bunch of rebounders, staff, coaches, played with the guys guarding me. So to get some live reads and stuff, I think it was really, really good to see.”
The basketball drills may seem like the easy part for Flagg. After Wednesday night, he’ll be under the microscope like never before. Even as high-profile as Duke basketball is, the NBA and its hype machine is a completely different animal.
“It’s a little bit of pressure,” Flagg said. “It’s definitely tough, but I think. For me it’s a lot of motivation.”
Who will pick after the Dallas Mavericks?
After the Mavericks take Flagg, the San Antonio Spurs will be on the clock, picking second. They have two lottery picks to find some players to pair with Victor Wembanyama. The Philadelphia 76ers will pick third overall. Then it will be the Charlotte Hornets and Utah Jazz, who both had a 14% chance of winning the lottery but had some terrible luck.
The Brooklyn Nets have the most picks in the first round, with a total of four. The defending champion Thunder actually have two first-rounders. It doesn’t seem fair that a team with only two players on the roster above 30 years old will possibly get younger after making those picks.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Golden State Warriors are one of the oldest teams in the league and are without a first-round pick. Unless they trade up, 40 players will be gone by the time they are on the clock. General Manager Mike Dunleavy is fine with that.
“I think you got to run your own race and in our case, we’ve got three players in their 30s that are really good and that’s that’s the hand we’re playing,” Dunleavy said. “It’s certainly admirable what the Pacers and the Thunder and some of these other teams have done in the league, but we’ve got our group, we’re committed to that and we got to build with it and around it.”
Who are some of the top players that will be taken?
A few prospects that will hear their names called early on Wednesday night include Rutgers guard Dylan Harper and his college teammate Ace Bailey. Most mock drafts expect those players to be selected in the top five.
Guards V.J. Edgecombe from Baylor and Tre Johnson from Texas will also be high picks along with two of Cooper Flagg’s Duke teammates, guard Kon Knueppel and center Khaman Maluach.
Throughout draft night, and the weeks after, fans should expect the balance of power in the league to shift a little as trades and free agent signings start making headlines. The Boston Celtics have already started reshaping their roster with two big trades, and the Houston Rockets pulled the trigger on a deal to acquire future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant.
