The Brooklyn Nets will be the biggest team to watch in the 2025 NBA Draft, as they will have four first-round picks this year. At 25-51, Brooklyn is in competition for top-five lottery odds, and could very well end up taking generational prospect Cooper Flagg at No. 1.
However, the Nets’ other three picks, via the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Houston Rockets, could bring in serious talent. This year’s class is highly regarded with plenty of potential. Who should Brooklyn’s targets be?
Pick No. 6 (Own): Derik Queen, Kon Knueppel, Jeremiah Fears
This is going to the presumed franchise player for the Nets alongside prolific scorer Cam Thomas. Ideally, they’d go for a point guard to pair alongside the 23-year-old, so Fears (Oklahoma) is a good choice. However, Brooklyn could also move on from Nic Claxton this offseason seeing as how he held interest from other teams at the trade deadline. At 25 years old, he barely misses the timeline, so Queen (Maryland) would be a more viable offensive option and young piece for the future.
What people tend to overlook when it comes to Knueppel is his versatile scoring. The freshman from Duke can not only knock down threes at a high rate but also attack the basket and draw fouls. He’s more of a high-floor, low(er) ceiling prospect, but he doesn’t need too many dribbles to score, which balances a duo of him and Thomas.
Pick No. 17 (via MIL): Asa Newell, Carter Bryant, Egor Demin
Again, if Brooklyn decides to trade Claxton for a lucrative return, Newell (Georgia) is the versatile forward to replace him at No. 17. He could go higher, but he’s proven to have a big impact on his teams, leading the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.
Bryant is one of the more underrated first-round prospects. He didn’t get too many opportunities to start the season, but has played into Arizona’s scheme and has thrived. He’s a bit raw, but the potential is clearly there.
Demin (BYU) was slated to go in the top 10 at the start of the season but has slipped in the mock drafts. Nevertheless, he’s a 6-foot-9 point forward, and like Knueppel, appears to be a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect.
Pick No. 26 (via NYK) and No. 27 (via HOU): Danny Wolf, Hugo Gonzalez, Walter Clayton Jr.
Wolf (Michigan) is perhaps the most underrated prospect in the first round. As a seven-footer, he can create off the dribble, rebound, and find teammates with ease. He fits the Nikola Jokic prototype, which is why the Nets should take him if he falls this far.
Gonzalez (Real Madrid) hasn’t gotten much playing time in Spain, but he certainly has potential as a 6-foot-7 forward with athleticism and good defensive instincts. However, he would be a project pick, quite the opposite of Knueppel or Demin. Gonzalez could be the definition of a low-floor, high-ceiling prospect.
Clayton’s age is a turnoff for NBA teams in a draft full of college freshmen, but it’s hard to deny what he’s done for Florida this season. The 6-foot-3 guard draws comparisons to Jamal Murray in his play style but has been the Stephen Curry of the NCAA Tournament thus far, knocking down threes at a 45.2% rate across his last four games while averaging 22.3 points.
