Around the NBA, it is often said that a Draft class cannot be evaluated for at least two years to see who were the true winners, losers, rupture stars and disappointments.
But what would be the fun in that?
As soon as the first 2025 draft round wrapped Wednesday night in Brooklyn, New York, NBC News analyzed some of the main stories that emerged from the first 30 selections.
How will the number 1 in General Cooper Flagg in Dallas fit?
GREIF: A FlagG versatility player would fit any part of the NBA, but I am more interested in the amount than Dallas coach Jason Kidd allows Flagg to drive the ball and start the offensive of the Mavericks given Kyrie Irving, it is expected that the entire next season will be lost after hurting a knee ligament.
The mavericks should have enough salary flexibility this low season to attract a shipowner (Chris Paul, someone?) But with Dallas in Win-Now mode, it seems to benefit their future so that Flagg is many repetitions as soon as possible as a game player, as they did with Luka Donc in 2018. As someone who observed Flagg comfortably watched against the stars of NBA, when it was only 17 years, it was only 17 years old. Only 17 years, during the old one, during the first year, during the national level, during the margin of the United States. 2024, I have no doubt to enter the League with an idea of how to handle NBA defenses.
Nadkarni: Flagg should be a great adjustment with the Mavericks, especially because it will enter a situation of lower pressure than most of the best draft selections. I am especially curious to see how it fits on the defensive side of the ball.
Orlando Magic Jamahl Mosley coach, who trained Flagg on the select US team. Uu. Before the Olympic Games last year, he praised Flagg for his attention to detail at that end of the floor after his time together. Flagg could end up being a good defensive piece in the wing for a list that already includes Anthony Davis and an emerging edge protector in Dereck Lively III.
Favorite selection
Nadkarni: The As Bailey was a kind of lamp that entered Wednesday, but seems an intelligent bet for jazz. Utah is in the unbalanceable position of not being a main objective for free agents. Jazz do not have many opportunities to acquire a Bailey talent player. And after the Utah selection fell from the first four, to catch a player that many expected to be in the top three feels like a homer.
Could Bailey complain at the beginning? Sure. Even so, it will be controlled by costs for four years, and jazz will have the opportunity to put a competitive list around you in the meantime. Although they are not the same player, remember that this is the same franchise that was ever lifted by a young Donovan Mitchell. Bailey should receive a similar opportunity to leave your own brand on the back.
GREIF: VJ Edgecombe to Philadelphia at number 3. There were more speculations about whether the Sixers would use or exchange their selection, since they come from a nightmare season that saw a pre -season title contender to stumble with 24 victories after an injury in the former MVP Joel Embiid and a first disappointing season for the firm of free agent, Paul George. Keeping it to select Edgecombe feels like the right movement to adapt to both deadlines that the team is considering.
He is a player who improves the team at this time, if Philadelphia still follows a championship, in a team of major stars and prone to injuries, his athletics is very necessary, and it is certainly a construction block for the future, in case the franchise is considering a useless towards the future. Edgecombe playing with the young electric guard Tyrese Maxey is something that I will be seeing in the league often passes.
The most surprising choice
GREIF: There were a couple of strong passers -by who made jumps surprising by the Draft Board. The first was the Egor Dmin of Byu, who was the eighth in general to Brooklyn, about 20 higher selections than many simulated drafts expected. But the biggest jump was Yang Hansen from China, who went from being projected to be taken in the middle of the second round from Thursday to 16 in general, in an exchange that takes Portland.
No one seemed to have seen that rise come, but the 7 -foot Big Man’s touch and the creative touch as a pin have earned him comparisons with Nikola Jokic. (I will admit that the images of their passes immediately brought to the mind the visions of Arvydas Sabonis skillfully finding teammates Open Trail Blazers in the 1990s).
We pump the brakes a bit; Jokic is the great man of all time, and among the best passersby, regardless of his position. However, taking into account that Hanse were averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists playing in China’s main professional division two years ago while he is still a teenager, I am intrigued in case he can hang on the NBA.
Nadkarni: Khaman Maluach was an obvious selection for the Suns at number 10 (the rockets technically made the selection, but will go to Phoenix as part of Kevin Durant’s trade). Except that, a few minutes after selecting Maluach, the Suns exchanged two first round selections for the center of Hornets Mark Williams. Hey?
Williams and Maluach are not the type of big men who can play together. I understand that Phoenix was desperate on the front court. But a team with peak problems that uses three first round selections in two centers is disconcerting. Maluach would have been a homer if the Suns simply did not change for Williams. Maybe things will be shake in the future (Williams could be a commercial chip again). For now, however, write Maluach and The trade of multiple selections by another center does not seem the most efficient use of resources.
Team that won (or lost) the night
Nadkarni: It can be time to nationalize the Pelicans of New Orleans. Seriously, what are they doing?
Nueva Orleans already made a strange movement this summer, exchanging the CJ McCollum Expirator contract for two years of Jordan Poole. Of course, whatever.
The real scratch of the head arrived on Wednesday night when New Orleans exchanged from number 23 to number 13 with the Atlanta Hawks to take Maryland Big Man derik Queen, and renounced a 2026 FIRST ROUND SELECTION WITHOUT PROTECTION In the process. Unprotected! A choice that will be the worst between the Pelicans and the Milwaukee Bucks, both teams that are expected to be very bad next year.
Actually, there is a decent opportunity that New Orleans only changes a possible selection of the five best for a late lottery selection. For a team that is rebuilding, I am struggling to discover how this makes sense.
Greif: Rohan, I give his confusion about what is happening in New Orleans. You covered that land so thoroughly, I will focus on the positive. I am cheating a little, but I have two teams that won the night, and both due to the guards they selected.
Let’s start with Washington’s Tre Johnson team at number 6. Last week, the Wizards have sent Jordan Poole, a guard that seemed too unreliable to be part of any long -term reconstruction, and brought back the veteran veteran CJ McCollum of New Orleans in Exchange. The Wizards need adults in the room and McCollum, a former president of the Union, gives them that. It will be there to help Mentor Johnson, who left Texas as one of the best available pure scorers.
When selecting the AS Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr., Utah has also chosen a clear direction after spending the last years wandering through the NBA desert to obtain high Draft selections. Bailey has enormous potential, if you can learn to accept playing in Utah, which according to reports was not among your favorite destinations. Clayton Jr. is a winner and seeing him guide Florida to multiple returns along the way to win the NCAA Championship makes me think that he will bring an instant level of competence to the ship’s position.
