HoopsHype’s latest 2025 NBA Draft aggregate mock has the Brooklyn Nets drafting Khaman Maluach with the No. 8 pick.
The rankings “reflect the composite score of 10 mock drafts” and are not meant to serve as intel. The mocks used are: ESPN (DraftExpress), CBS Sports, The Athletic (Sam Vecenie), Bleacher Report, Babcock Hoops, USA Today, NBAdraft.net, SB Nation and FTW.
The draft is scheduled for June 25 and 26 at Barclays Center, the Nets’ home arena. If this scenario plays out, Duke freshman Maluach will be the first player to walk across the stage, shake commissioner Adam Silver’s hand and don a Brooklyn cap. He averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
“He’s okay in drop coverage and in the pick-and-roll; he’s not going to be left on an island out there,” HoopsHype quotes a scout as saying. “I don’t know how much more he can develop. I think that’s probably where he’s at. He might be stuck as a putback guy. But again, being a putback and lob threat is great.”
Brooklyn’s No. 19 pick goes towards Nique Clifford, one of the draft’s biggest sleepers. He played five seasons of college basketball, three at Colorado and the last two at Colorado State. This past season, Clifford posted 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 ‘stocks’ per game on 49.6/37.7/77.7 shooting splits.
A scout quoted by HoopsHype compares him to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Aaron Wiggins: “He’s a great player, and we’re going to be a great team. Maybe not as good, but definitely a better rebounder than Wiggins, honestly. I would say he is.”
The rest of the Nets’ draft plays out with an international flavor. Brooklyn is armed with back-to-back picks at Nos. 26 and 27. This draft features the team selecting French wing Noah Penda and Israeli guard Ben Saraf. The Nets also have the No. 36 overall pick in the draft’s second round. Recent buzz indicates that Brooklyn could look to “consolidate” some of their assets.
Penda is a defense-first playmaker who can stuff the stat sheet. He recently grazed a triple-double in the French league with 18 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and four ‘stocks’ in 36 minutes.
Saraf is playing his club basketball for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany, which also features likely lottery pick Noa Essengue. Last year, Across town, the No. 25 pick in last year’s draft Pacôme Dadiet played for Ulm before being selected by the New York Knicks. Killian Hayes, a former Net, also played for the German club before the NBA. Saraf is a crafty scorer and passer, but he needs to shoot more threes and prove that he has NBA-level athleticism.
