Introduction
As the 2025 NBA Draft unfolds, all eyes are on the Dallas Mavericks, heavily tipped to select Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick. This live blog offers continuous updates, breaking news, in-depth analysis, and potential trades as they happen. Stay tuned to understand team strategies, prospect evaluations, and pivotal moments that shape the future of the NBA. With expert insights from Michael Dominski and other leading analysts, we bring you right into the heart of the action at Barclays Center. The draft is more than just player selection; it’s a strategic chess game that impacts team dynamics for years to come. Follow along to catch every significant development and gain a comprehensive understanding of each team’s vision for the future.
NBA Draft 2025 — Latest Updates
The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is underway! There will be two rounds and 59 picks this year. The event takes place at Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets. Cooper Flagg from Duke is the heavy favorite to be selected with the first overall pick, which the Dallas Mavericks currently hold.
Start time: 8 p.m. ET
How to watch: ESPN and ABC
Stream: Fubo
Some NBA Draft Prop Bets
Draft Day is here, and prop bets are a hot topic. Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper were early locks, but there’s been drastic line movement around No. 3. Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe opened +150 for the third pick, and rose up to -275 last week. He’s now settled in at -1000. Similarly, Duke marksman Kon Knueppel opened +900 to go No. 4. He started the week +100 and comes into tonight’s broadcast at -500. Barring trade flurries, it looks like VJ to PHI is a near-certainty, and the Blue Devil marksman will indeed stay in North Carolina.
Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma) is -185 to go fifth, and Ace Bailey (Rutgers) lands at -175 for sixth. The first selection with entirely plus-odds is pick No. 7. The field there is topped by two centers, Maryland’s Derik Queen (+110) and Duke’s Khaman Maluach (+250). Tre Johnson is next at +500 odds, followed by Fears-Bailey-Knueppel draft tumbles. Interestingly, Queen also has the best odds for the tenth pick (+300).
Red Carpet Fits
Check out a few of the best fits from the 2025 NBA Draft red carpet!
Pacers Cap Gymnastics
The Pacers just pulled off a little cap gymnastics. They’ll save about $1.5 million next year on a roster spot with this deal and the one last week to trade No. 23 to the Pelicans. The 23rd pick would make roughly 2.7 million as a rookie while Indiana can sign a second round pick to a second round exception contract that could start as low as $1.27 million next season.
Dallas Is Ready for Flagg
So much for the element of surprise. Right outside of American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Mavericks, a Cooper Flagg New Balance billboard is already hovering over Dirk Nowitzki’s statue. I wonder who the Mavs will take No. 1 overall tonight…
Creative Draft Pick Maneuvering by the Indiana Pacers
During this year’s NBA Finals, the Pacers traded the No. 23 pick in this year’s draft to get their own 2026 first-round pick. That allowed them to regain control over their future first-round assets, meaning they can trade their first round picks again rather than needing to worry about violating the Stepien Rule. Now, they’ve used a future second-round pick to get back into this year’s draft and select a player at No. 38 tomorrow. Why get rid of a first-round pick and then get back into the draft with a second-round pick? Less money on your salary cap books. The potential of non-guaranteed salary and years. Greater flexibility.
Trade: Pacers Receive No. 38 Pick from Spurs
It will be a 2030 second round pick (via Sacramento) that will go from the Pacers to Spurs for the No. 38 overall pick this year, a team source told The Athletic.
More on Noa Essengue
There’s been some discussion about Ratiopharm Ulm forward Noa Essengue’s decision to miss the rest of the German League finals so he could attend the draft (and, reportedly, take part in a secret workout in Toronto that is now not so secret). His team is currently one game from the championship with the deciding Game 5 of the best-of-five series tomorrow, but Essengue is in New York. Ratiopharm sports director Thorsten Leibenath left the decision up to his two players in this draft, Essengue and guard Ben Saraf. Saraf opted to stay and play, while Essengue decided to go to the draft.
Keep an Eye on Ousmane Dieng
One more player I’m watching today: Ousmane Dieng of Oklahoma City. The Thunder have all 15 players from their championship team under contact for next season, plus they have picks 15 and 24. One obvious move would be to package Dieng with the 24th pick so that they have a roster spot open for the guy they take at 15. Alternatively, the Thunder could trade their picks and Dieng, and use their nontaxpayer midlevel exception to add a rotation-caliber veteran forward to the mix; o they could package 15, 24 and Dieng in a trade for a big forward under contract. Basically they have lots of ways to make the sausage here, just none that involve Dieng staying on the roster.
Your Views on the NBA Draft
Plan B.: As a Sixers fan I really hope we pass on Ace Bailey.
Craig B.: I demand the Bulls draft Rocco Zikarsky. There’s never been a more Chicago name. I don’t know if he can play at all but I know he’s a cinch to be part of a superfans segment in local comedy clubs.
David M.: I think Derik Queen has a chance to be the second best player from this class. His body still needs serious work, and he’ll need to dedicate himself to becoming a pro, but the ceiling is super high. Unfortunately, the floor is really low if he can’t put it all together.
Daniel D.: I don’t believe in Jeremiah Fears. He seems like pre-draft hype. I do believe in Khaman Maluach’s upside.
Tim R.: Ace Bailey reminds me of Cam Reddish. Athletic as hell with the size, but no feel for the game or how to make others around him better. Typical AAU pedigree of its my turn to shoot. Tre Johnson gives me same vibe.
Clippers NBA Draft Guide
For the second time in three years, the LA Clippers have the last pick (30th overall) of the first round entering the NBA Draft. The Clippers also have a second-round pick (51st overall) on Day 2 of the draft. I don’t spend a lot of ink when it comes to the Clippers draft. The last Clippers rookie to play more than 800 minutes in a season was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2018-19. Almost every other NBA team has had at least one 1,000-minute rookie over the last six NBA seasons; the Oklahoma City Thunder have had 10 1,000-minute rookies over the last six years. The lone exception besides the Clippers is the Milwaukee Bucks. The elevated priority for the Clippers this offseason is ballhandling and frontcourt help, and the Clippers have always valued toughness, positional size and what I like to call a DPS (dribble-pass-shoot) skill set.
Your Views on Ace Bailey
Ned M.: Ace Bailey has major Ben Simmons/Markelle Fultz vibes in terms of mental toughness (or lack thereof) and entitlement. Hard pass for me as a Sixers fan.
Anthony S.: Everyone seems down on Ace but I am will to take a chance with an immature 18-year-old with more upside than anyone in the draft if I were selecting for the Wizards. My bet would be on Ace or Malauch. I am playing the long odds. If I hit, the Wiz will have turned the ship around. Drafting is a gamble.
Cyrus TG.: If a team drafting in the top 10 really wants to move up for Ace or Fears, I am making that trade if I am the Hornets.
Lee L.: Bailey made a mistake coming out this year. He needs to fill out and establish himself as a defensive force. Yes, he was poorly coached offensively at the unfortunate State University of New Jersey, but his defensive stats are skewed by his play against bottom-dwellers.
Demin Carving Out His Own Path
Egor Demin has already followed in the footsteps of Luka Dončić to Real Madrid and helped restore Brigham Young University to basketball prominence a year before AJ Dybantsa was supposed to do that. But who Demin, 19, of Moscow, really can’t wait to be associated with is a household name among any hoops fan, as quick to the front of the mind as Luka or LeBron or Wemby. (This is a joke, and if we had turned it into a trivia question, no way you would have guessed.)Demin is on the verge of becoming the first Russian-born player drafted by an NBA team since … Sergey Karasev in 2013.
Players Raptors Should Target at NBA Draft
As you might have guessed based on my last column, I believe the Toronto Raptors should use their pick to select a rookie for next year’s roster in Wednesday’s first round of the NBA Draft, barring a star who fits better than Kevin Durant would have coming along. Actually, let’s amend that a little bit — I believe they should use a pick to select someone for next year’s roster in the first round. Making a trade is always more complicated in practice than in theory. With that said, finding a way to move down and gain a little something extra while still grabbing a player they like later in the first round could be a nice lane for the Raptors. Toronto Raptors have the ninth pick on Wednesday. They also have the 39th pick, or ninth in the second round, which is Thursday night.
Conclusion
The 2025 NBA Draft promises to reshape the league with emerging talents and strategic trades. Cooper Flagg is expected to be a top pick. Keep an eye on players like Ace Bailey, Noa Essengue, and Egor Demin, who each bring unique skills. The draft is a crucial event that sets the stage for the upcoming NBA season. As teams refine their rosters and new stars emerge, the future of basketball looks bright and full of potential. Stay tuned for all the exciting developments that this draft class will bring to the league.
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