NBA mock draft 2025: Updated projection with latest rumors after combine, college withdrawals

It’s hard to believe the 2025 NBA Draft is just around the corner when the basketball world has all of its energy focused on the upcoming 2025 NBA Finals. The shift from the end of the playoffs to the start of the offseason happens almost instantaneously, and if the insiders are to be believed, this could be one of the wildest summers of player movement in a long time.

The fireworks will begin with the NBA Draft. The biggest drama was already resolved in the lottery, when the Dallas Mavericks jumped from No. 11 to No. 1 to win the rights to Duke’s Cooper Flagg just months after the franchise’s disastrous Luka Doncic trade. We argued that the Mavs still need to fire Nico Harrison to build around Flagg the right way, but at this point it doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen. The San Antonio Spurs were the other big winner of the lottery by jumping up to No. 2 overall. Could that pick be in play in a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade?

A lot has changed since our instant mock draft following the lottery. Here’s our latest projection of the 2025 NBA Draft before it gets underway on Wednesday, June 25. We’ll have more analysis on this class, after the table.

Let’s go over some of the big themes of this draft class.

Where is the drama in the draft?

Cooper Flagg is going No. 1 overall to the Mavericks, and not even Nico Harrison is delusional enough to screw that up. The intrigue starts when the Spurs come on the clock at No. 2, not so much with the player who will be taken in that spot but if it could be up for a trade.

Dylan Harper is going No. 2 overall. Will the Spurs keep that pick? San Antonio was in trade rumors for Giannis Antetokounmpo even before moving up to No. 2 in the lottery. Antetokounmpo is still reportedly considering his future, but if he does decide he needs to leave Milwaukee, the Spurs suddenly have one of the best available packages for him. I also think the Spurs should consider a trade down, perhaps with the Nets at No. 8, that could return a veteran like Cam Johnson. Harper is a fantastic prospect, but the lack of shooting next to De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle is concerning. Just taking the best player and figuring out the rest later (ESPN’s Jon Givony reported San Antonio is signaling it plans to take Harper) is a decent move. If the Spurs really want to get gutsy, they should entertain trading Fox before he signs a $220 million extension and just giving the keys to Harper. San Antonio has a lot of options, but whatever they do has to be in the best long-term interest of Wembanyama.

The Sixers hold the keys to the draft at No. 3: The third pick was always where this draft was going to get interesting with a lack of consensus after Flagg and Harper. The Philadelphia 76ers moving up to that spot on lottery night makes it even more intriguing. Philly feels like it’s stuck in the crosshairs of Two Timelines, with Joel Embiid and Paul George as highly-paid and highly injury-prone veterans, and Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain as two small-but-talented young guards around them. Philly’s decision at No. 3 really comes back to if they believe Embiid can ever regain his MVP form after missing most of this season. If Philly does stick with the pick, they have lots of good options. I ranked the eight best players the Sixers could take at No. 3, and landed on VJ Edgecombe and Kon Knueppel as the top two choices. While I still favor Knueppel for the Sixers, Edgecombe is generally ranked higher on boards and feels like a safer projection. Philly’s perimeter would be a bit small with either player, but Edgecombe’s athleticism and defensive playmaking, and Knueppel’s shooting and offensive playmaking would make either a solid selection.

The Hornets, Jazz, Wizards, and Pelicans are the quartet of sadness: All these franchises had their Cooper Flagg hopes and dreams dashed on draft night, and none of them have easy answers for who they should be targeting later in the draft. I love the fit of Edgecombe in Charlotte if he’s still on the board at No. 4, but Knueppel’s shooting and toughness would also be a welcomed addition to a flawed core. The Jazz are a true wildcard and can go in any direction. I went with the YOLO pick of Ace Bailey in this mock draft, though I’d worry he’d have a little too much freedom in Utah on a team that lacked any kind of serious structure this year. I had no idea what to do with the Wizards. I had Washington taking Derik Queen in my last projection, and while I still like the fit, his poor combine athletic testing is making it more likely he falls out of the top-10. Maluach is a personal favorite of mine in this class, and his pairing with Alex Sarr would give Washington two gigantic bigs with length, shooting potential … and terrible hands. The Pelicans feel destined to something silly this offseason with Joe Dumars calling the shots (I’ll predict a bad Trey Murphy III trade), and they can go in any direction with this pick. Tre Johnson feels like one of the safer possible selections if only for his high-volume and highly-accurate shooting.

How high can Noa Essengue rise?

I’m all in on Noa Essengue. The French forward was projected as a top-20 pick in our very first 2025 mock draft from June 2024, and he’s only raised his stock over the last year with a terrific season playing on Ulm in the German league.

The pitch on Essengue is pretty easy: he’s huge and athletic, and has been highly productive against pro competition at a super young age. Flagg is the only player in this class younger than Essengue, who won’t turn 19 years old until Dec. 18. Per 36 minutes, Essengue is averaging 15.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, two assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game on 59.5 percent true shooting. He’s come on strong late in the season for Ulm, showing switchable defense and the ability to overwhelm opponents on his forays to the rim.

There are still some legitimate questions about how his game translates. During a time when every team wants forwards with dribble-pass-shoot skill sets, Essengue currently does none of those things at an NBA level. His handle is solid in the open floor right now, but can be negatively impacted by ball pressure. He only made 23 percent of this threes this season, and his nine percent assist rate is extremely underwhelming. Can Essengue score in the halfcourt at all right now? What position does he guard? His versatility is a selling point, but it feels more theoretical than tangible right now.

Still, the fact that Essengue has been so productive even without a dribble-pass-shoot skill set is part of what makes him so enticing. He has incredible physical tools with a reported 9’3 standing reach, easy explosion off the floor as a leaper, and the lateral quickness to stick with guards. He has a great foundation for development with plus size, athleticism, and coordination, and he’s already proven he can effectively pick his spots against pro competition. I have Essengue going No. 9 to the Raptors in this mock, and I’d take him even higher than that if I was running a team.

The Rockets, Blazers, and Hawks try to contend with lottery picks

The Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Atlanta Hawks are each at different points in their team-building experiments, but all of them own lottery picks while hoping to take a leap next season. The Rockets are the best team of the bunch after finishing with the No. 2 seed in the West this year, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable with only a four-win gap between themselves and the play-in tournament. The Rockets need shot creation and shooting for a team that gets it done with defense, but at this point they might be better off looking to trade the pick for veteran help in those areas. Houston will also have to decide if they want to go all-in on Giannis Antetokounmpo should he hit the trade block. If the Rockets stay at 10, a player like Collin Murray-Boyles would double-down on their defense-first identity and potentially allow some of their other young pieces to become available in trades. Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis could also be an interesting pick for his passing creativity and pull-up shooting.

The Blazers are one spot in back of Houston, and hoping to get to where the Rockets are at. Like the Rockets, Portland has a lot of interesting young pieces without having a franchise player to build around, but all of Houston’s core pieces are just better for right now and the future. Portland has a strong defensive identity around Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan in the front court, and Deni Avdija emerged into the team’s best player as a versatile wing. Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe still have a long way to go, and a guard like Jase Richardson at No. 11 could add a new dimension to the backcourt. Richardson is super small after measuring at six-foot even, but he’s an elite shooter with a great feel for the game. Richardson just knows how to find soft pockets in the defense to relocate for threes, and that would be a big boost for the Portland offense that needs shooting.

The Hawks pick at No. 13, and they should have some upward mobility in the East if they keep Trae Young. With Boston and Milwaukee likely to take a big step back, Atlanta could make a move to the middle of the conference playoff race if Jalen Johnson can come back healthy and last year’s No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher takes another step. I like the way the Hawks have surrounded Young with big, athletic forwards, and Arizona wing Carter Bryant would be another addition in that mold at No. 13. Bryant can’t do much on offense other than hit spot-up threes right now, but his athleticism, frame, and defensive playmaking give him the chance to be an awesome role player.

The Rockets have a big head-start on this group with Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, and an elite defense in tow. It isn’t crazy to think the Blazers and Hawks could make their own jump up the standings next season if they play this offseason the right way.

Who’s rising after the combine in the 2025 NBA Draft?

• Egor Demin, G, BYU: Demin is not one of my favorite prospects, and I view him as more of a fringe first-rounder rather than a potential lottery pick. Still, he appears as a lottery pick in this mock with recent reports that teams were impressed by his combine performance. There’s already some buzz that the Chicago Bulls are hoping he’s available at No. 12. Demin has great size and elite passing ability at 6’9, but his total lack of speed and power limits his already shaky handle when it comes to playing through contact. He will have to be a good shooter to make it in the league, and he was pretty terrible from three (27.3 percent on 154 attempts) and the free throw line (69.5 percent) in his one season at BYU. Demin feels like the exact type of prospect GM Arturas Karnisovas typically covets, but it sure seems like a weird fit next to a similar player in Josh Giddey. A year ago, all the talk was the Bulls targeting Devin Carter before they walked away with Matas Buzelis. This mock has another curveball with Derik Queen being the pick for Chicago.
• Cedric Coward, F, Washington State: We named Coward as the biggest winner of the combine, and now he’s making his debut in our mock drafts. It’s possible we still have him too low at No. 17 to the Wolves. Coward’s insane length (his wingspan is +9 inches longer than his height), huge hands, and sweet three-point stroke is helping him rise up boards, and he was impressive as an interview too. I worry about Coward’s lack of production against good teams throughout his three years of DI ball at Eastern Washington and for six games at Washington State until a torn labrum ended his season. It’s rare that the mystery man of a draft class is a domestic prospect, but Coward is that player this year. Length and shooting play well at any level. There’s a reason why Duke and Alabama got into a bidding war for him in the transfer portal. I’m still a little skeptical on Coward, but at this point no one should be surprised if he goes in the top-20.
• Ryan Kalkbrenner, C, Creighton: Kalkbrenner is one of my favorite potential sleepers in this class after an amazing five-year college career at Creighton. The 7’1 big man is an elite shot blocker who was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year four times. He’s been trying to show teams he can shoot threes, and he did make progress this year by hitting 34.4 percent of his 61 attempts. Rim protection is such a valuable skill that an older prospect with Kalkbrenner deserves first-round looks, and his awesome scoring efficiency should only further encourage teams. In a draft that’s seen its depth thinned out by some many players going back to college for NIL bags, Kalkbrenner now looks like he has a real chance to go in round one.

When is the 2025 NBA Draft?

What: 2025 NBA Draft first round

When: Wednesday, June 25 (the second round will be June 26)

Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV and streaming: ESPN/Watch ESPN

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