2025 DBR Mock Draft - That's a wrap!

accfanfrom1970 said:
#6 Washington takes -
Kon Knueppel		SF – Duke – HT: 6-6 – WT: 219 – WING: 6/6 1/4 – Fr – The Wizards had the second best shot at winning the lottery but fall to no.6. Ouch.

Kon Knueppel would be an ideal addition on the wing, giving them one of the best shooters in the draft. He’s a very strong and smart player with elite touch on his shot. His basketball “brains” is something Washington is lacking, along with outside shooting. We were originally thinking Khaman Maluach here, but….
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Amen to the bolded bit. I am hoping the real life Wizards are able to draft Kneuppel. It would be a nice consolation for the disastrous lottery results.
 
brevity said:
#14 pick - San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs come into this draft in need of size and shooting. I took care of size by selecting Khaman Maluach with the #2 pick near the top of the lottery, and now I can address shooting at the end of the lottery. (No offense to Maluach, who, as you know, is not allergic to shooting. He did quite well making threes in pre-draft workouts, and might already be a better offensive threat alongside Victor Wembanyama than Rudy Gobert was for Team France in the Olympics.)

Last season San Antonio was 20th in 3-point percentage despite being 7th in 3-point attempts, according to Sports Reference. The outside shot is an important part of their diet; in each game they take about 40 threes and 50 twos. The Spurs have a glut of wing-type players causing a financial sag in their roster, but among them, only Harrison Barnes (43.3 percent), Julian Champagnie (37.1 percent), and Devin Vassell (36.8 percent) are shooting threes with any degree of volume and success. Barnes ($18 million next season, affordable for a steady veteran) and Champagnie ($3 million) seem worth keeping, but Vassell ($27 million) is expensive. I imagine he'll be part of any trade the Spurs may make for a superstar -- hopefully not Kevin Durant, as has been heavily rumored.

Anyway, that need sent me looking for some kind of SG/SF or SF/PF, and the middle of the first round is not a bad place to find one. I was impressed with Toronto taking Noa Essengue at #9 -- even the mock Raptors know international talent -- and I expected Carter Bryant (selected by Portland at #11) to be gone as well. I considered Nique Clifford, Hugo González, Liam McNeeley, Noah Penda, and Will Riley, but then I remembered that I had a second Costner-esque note in my pocket:

View attachment 20199

Cedric Coward is riding high on the narrative of going from Division III Willamette to Eastern Washington to Washington State to the NBA first round, and this board is somewhat divided on him because that story could have had a nice chapter at Duke. He was a pretty terrific representative of the school for about 3 weeks, but he attracted too much attention from the NBA and stayed in the draft. And now we're limited to watching him on pro broadcasts: maybe the NBA on NBC [insert John Tesh music] some Sunday night in January, Spurs versus Heat, Cedric Coward against Tyler Herro.

Coward's measurements include a 6' 5.25" height without shoes and an enviable 7' 2.25" wingspan. But beyond those numbers, he's a solidly built pro-style wing who's ready to shoot and defend. Strong at both ends, strong to the basket, strong period. The main knock on him is the 6-game sample size at Washington State last season, but if you look at the full previous season he played at Eastern Washington, the numbers were about the same. As he moves up in competition and increases his usage, he's shown improvement as a shooter, rebounder, and passer. He'll have the work ethic to become a reliable and consistent rotation player in the NBA.

TL, DR version: With the 14th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs select Cedric Coward, 6-6 wing, Washington State.

Yes, it's basically another homer pick. But this is DBR. The 2025 Mock Draft lottery is now complete, featuring three Duke players and one almost Duke player, while leaving out the Maryland guy (Derik Queen) and the UNC guy (Drake Powell, who may have to wait a while).

@Daddylawman and the Oklahoma City Thunder have the #15 pick.
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Nice pick, Coward was the other player I was considering at 11
 
The Oklahoma City Thunder have the luxury of no striking needs and can look at best player available, or best value at this point. Fortunately the pick at this point combines both attributes. One of the most skilled big men in this draft is wondering what he is doing still sitting in the Green Room. With his high level passing ability to supplement his scoring, Derik Queen is a steal at this point in the draft. While Queen's outside shooting is still a work in progress, he is a body to battle inside and create spacing for SGA and company. The Thunder can let Queen develop, but he's capable of stepping into the second 5 as a contributor.
So, with the 15th pick the Thunder select Maryland big man Derik Queen

Next up @pfrduke
 
PFR sent me a note that he is unavailable to announce this pick so I am posting it for him. I am sure he will come back and post an explanation.

With Pick #16 in the DBR Mock Draft, The Orlando Magic select Jase Richardson, G, Michigan State

@Turk, you are up.
 
JasonEvans said:
PFR sent me a note that he is unavailable to announce this pick so I am posting it for him. I am sure he will come back and post an explanation.

With Pick #16 in the DBR Mock Draft, The Orlando Magic select Jase Richardson, G, Michigan State
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@Turk, you're on the clock.

Can't wait to hear the thinking behind this one, I have two guards ahead of Jase on my big board. Maybe PFR was feeling nostalgic to collect two J. Richardson Magic jerseys? (Jason Richardson was a teammate of JJ Redick's for two years)
 
JasonEvans said:
Fears has massive upside... but there's just no way I would take him ahead of Tre Johnson. The NBA loves shooting and Tre is perhaps the best shooter in this class. Having his spacing and attacking outside while Zion puts pressure on the paint would be HUGE for Nawlins.

If Tre Johnson is available when NO picks in the real draft, I think they will take him for sure.
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That’s who I was deciding between. I didn’t think both would be available at my pick, truly I didn’t think either would.
 
Here is where we stand right now --

First Round --
1. Dallas -- toughbuff1 -- Cooper Flagg, F, Duke
2. San Antonio -- Brevity -- Khaman Maluach, C, Duke
3. Philadelphia -- RoyWhite -- VJ Edgecomb, G, Baylor
4. Charlotte -- jam -- Dylan Harper, G, Rutgers
5. Utah -- coldriver10 -- Ace Bailey, SF, Rutgers
6. Washington -- accfanfrom1970 -- Kon Knueppel, F, Duke
7. New Orleans -- JNort -- Jeremiah Fears, PG, Oklahoma
8. Brooklyn -- godins -- Tre Johnson, G, Texas
9. Toronto -- FerryFor50 -- Noa Essengue, PF, Ratiopharm Ulm
10. Houston -- MrJeffSchwartz0 -- Nolan Traore, PG, France
11. Portland -- toughbuff1 -- Carter Bryant, F, Arizona
12. Chicago -- CDu -- Collin Murray-Boyles, PF, South Carolina
13. Atlanta -- Jason Evans -- Kasparas Jakucionis, G, Illinois
14. San Antonio -- Brevity -- Cedric Coward, G, Washington State
15. Oklahoma City -- DaddyLawman -- Derik Queen, C, Maryland
16. Orlando -- pfrduke -- Jase Richardson, G, Michigan State
17. Minnesota -- Turk -- Thomas Sorber, C, Georgetown
18. Washington -- accfanfrom1970 -- Egor Demin, F, BYU
19. Brooklyn -- godins -- Nique Clifford, G, Colorado State
20. Miami -- tommy - Walter Clayton, G, Florida
21. Utah -- coldriver10 - Liam McNeeley, F, UConn
22. Atlanta - Jason Evans - Joan Beringer, C, France
23. Indiana - FerryFor50 - Maxime Rarnaud, C, Stanford
24. Oklahoma City -- DaddyLawman
25. Orlando -- pfrduke
26. Brooklyn -- godins
27. Brooklyn -- godins
28. Boston -- pokeresq
29. Phoenix - Gooch
30. LA Clippers -- pcal6vb
 
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Feels like The Timberwolves need to bolster the frontcourt. We're thinking Rudy Gobert doesn't give us enough offensively as he moves into the Andre Drummond phase of his career. With Derik Queen off the board ("I like Turtles!"). We're going with Thomas Sorber, C, Georgetown. We see him supporting Rudy, with more switching ability with his 7'6" wingspan ("Drink!").

Passing the baton to accfanfrom1970 and Les Boulez.
 
With the 18th pick in the first round, Washington selects Egor Demin from BYU.
Size: 6'8", 199 lbs
Age: 19
Nationality: Russia
Pro Comparison: Josh Giddey
"Egor Demin will earn consideration from late-lottery teams that buy the playmaking and are willing to bet on his shooting development. He does have doubters who believe his college three-point numbers are more indicative than his workout makes and question his decision-making, defense and off-ball value. But the passing does feel real, particularly for a 6'9" ball-handler. His role will be clear early on—generate transition offense and set the table for teammates in the half court."

Washington needs help everywhere, getting Kon earlier helps their outside shooting, Demin hopefully helps their passing/point guard play.
 
JasonEvans said:
So, you think that Jakucionius -- who only turned 19 a couple weeks ago (birthday May 29th) has "maxed out" already.

Ok... that's certainly a take.
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Yeah to be completely honest watched a lot of Illinois last year I don’t think he got better as the year went on. I think he pretty much just stayed the same guy. Not bad, but certainly not at the level I think many of us expected him to reach.
 
Welcome back to Behind the Scenes with the Brooklyn Nets front office. I'm your host, General Manager Sean Marks. If you aren't tired of me yet, you will be soon.

The Nets already selected:
  • 8th pick: Tre Johnson (G), Texas
We have no choice but to bring in some talent via free agency, as our highest paid "stars" are currently Nic Claxton and Cameron Johnson (YIKES). Without knowing which FAs we bring in, here are the obvious holes on our roster:
  1. Everything, everywhere, all at once.
Our mandate for this draft is to add as much talent & upside to the roster. Which is why we really wanted Egor Demin with this pick. NYC is home to the largest Russian expat community in the US, so Demin would have felt at home in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay or Brighton Beach. But alas – the Wizards scooped him up.

The Nets are looking at win-now players as well as upside picks. But with two picks coming at the end of the first round, we're going to select the top player on our board, Nique Clifford, SG from Colorado State.

Nique is old, but he projects to contribute on the wing right away. He rebounds as a G/F extremely well and has high feel for the game on both offense and defense. He has a lot of craft to his game, good size (6'6", 202 lbs), and he does the little things well. Welcome to BK, Nique!

Scouting Report on Nique Clifford by The Ringer's J. Kyle Mann
A fifth college season has given Clifford a chance to experiment with the ball in his hands. He’s always been a willing and clever passer. His pick-and-roll reps skyrocketed this season (interestingly enough, he shot the ball significantly better in those actions than in any other situation, and at decent volume). He also created his own offense in isolation more than ever, and he even took on some post reps. A traceable pattern among those three avenues is that Nique depends on his very sophisticated footwork while facing the basket and bumps off the dribble to find separation for his jumper rather than cook defenders with violent changes of direction or speed. His left hand can be wobbly against pressure or when he’s finishing.

I expect his ceiling as a scorer to be driven by his mastery of those types of subtle technical details. Shooting consistency could drastically change everything. Although Clifford isn’t a disaster from 3, he is prone to streakiness and dry spells—this season he had four separate stretches of eight or more perimeter misses in a row, and one stretch to start the year where he missed 14 of 19. But all in all, Clifford is someone who can chip in for a lot of teams.

@tommy – Miami is on the clock for the 20th pick.
 
Not that it will impede any of you, but I am buried in plane crash news over here at CNN today so I will not be checking the boards often. Sorry!
 
OK so the Heat. We're in a difficult position, kinda stuck in that dreaded middle. Not close to championship level, but not close to the bottom either. What we have a history of doing when we're to this point is, we sign a high profile free agent or two, and we're back in the game. Miami is a very desirable location for free agents, after all, and that's been proven many times. The last big time guy we brought in (actually by a sign-and-trade, but still) was Jimmy Butler, who ended up conducting himself like a complete schmuck, burning bridges everywhere, and taking the franchise down with him. But it left a big hole in our roster. We would love to fill the hole with, say, Giannis, but it's doubtful we have the assets to win the bidding war for him. So we may end up waiting for next year to go deep sea fishing.

In the meantime, we need to do what we can drafting 20th to improve our roster. In the frontcourt, Bam Adebayo didn't have his best season by any means, and he continues to get worn down to a nub by the end of each year, but he's still an all-star and an excellent two way player. Thankfully we hit on last year's draft pick, thin big guy Ke'el Ware, who showed some real signs as a rim runner and rim protector who can also step out and hit a jump shot. Jaime Jacquez definitely took a step back this year, and we need him to get back to his rookie year form. We like Nikola Jovic on the wing, but he still has a lot of growth that needs to happen and he needs to be more consistent. Andrew Wiggins is still an effective player, although not nearly the defensive terror he was in Golden State.

In the backcourt, Tyler Herro was an all-star, and he just had a super year and while we're very happy with him, we know if he's your #1 option, you aren't winning a title. He needs to be your #2. That's where the free agent signing is going to need to come in. We can't count on Terry Rozier anymore. We are very excited by what we saw late in the year and in the playoffs from Davion Mitchell, but was it enough to spend the money necessary to keep him? We'll see.

What we need, while we wait for the big fish, is an injection of offense and some excitement. The team seems to have flat-lined. In order to address the need for scoring and some fun, we are drafting Walter Clayton, Jr. out of the University of Florida. Clayton is on the small side, but he is an absolutely superb shotmaker, finding angles, finding ways to get shots off over bigger and more athletic guys. He is super clutch, and proved it over and over during his first team All-American senior season, of course leading the Gators to the national championship. The kid is just a winner. As a UF product, he'll bring added excitement to Miami. Will it be problematic to have him and Herro in the backcourt together defensively? Yes. But whenever necessary, we can bring in wing Haywood Highsmith, who is our version of Lu Dort -- Highsmith is one of the best backcourt/wing defenders in the league. So there it is: the Heat take a swing and select Walter Clayton, Jr. from the University of Florida.
 
I was dismayed to see Cedric Coward go before this pick. I think he would have been the perfect fit for Duke. I mean the Jazz.

Now that he was no longer an option, we evaluated several possible contenders. As I mentioned in pick #5, the Jazz need a lot of help. While I don't want to put a limit on our potential for next season, let's be honest, we're going to be picking in the lottery again. As such, and with 4 draft picks this year, our plan is to draft players we see as having the highest long-term upside and not necessarily those we anticipate will contribute greatly to the 25-26 season. Having said that, we feel there is one player left on our board that can potentially do both: Liam McNeeley, F, UConn.

Liam is a great shooter, although he didn't always show that in his sole college season, and a good passer. He has a way of nicely blending into any offense. Lots of untapped potential here for Assistant Coach Wojo to work with.

@JasonEvans is up!
 
As I said, really busy so no time for a long writeup... but after going small with my first Hawks pick we now go big and take French center Joan Beringer with the #22 pick.

He's super young (I think I read he's the 3rd younger guy in the draft) and has only been playing hoops for a few years but he is already an elite rim protector with great athleticism and a non-stop motor. His offense is developing, but if he gets something more than just a dunk he is going to be a steal in this draft. Guys with this kind of size and athleticism don't grow on trees.

Plus, he and Risachier will be chattering at each other in French in the locker room and it will make them more comfortable in the NBA ;)

-Jason
 
tommy said:
OK so the Heat. We're in a difficult position, kinda stuck in that dreaded middle. Not close to championship level, but not close to the bottom either. What we have a history of doing when we're to this point is, we sign a high profile free agent or two, and we're back in the game. Miami is a very desirable location for free agents, after all, and that's been proven many times. The last big time guy we brought in (actually by a sign-and-trade, but still) was Jimmy Butler, who ended up conducting himself like a complete schmuck, burning bridges everywhere, and taking the franchise down with him. But it left a big hole in our roster. We would love to fill the hole with, say, Giannis, but it's doubtful we have the assets to win the bidding war for him. So we may end up waiting for next year to go deep sea fishing.

In the meantime, we need to do what we can drafting 20th to improve our roster. In the frontcourt, Bam Adebayo didn't have his best season by any means, and he continues to get worn down to a nub by the end of each year, but he's still an all-star and an excellent two way player. Thankfully we hit on last year's draft pick, thin big guy Ke'el Ware, who showed some real signs as a rim runner and rim protector who can also step out and hit a jump shot. Jaime Jacquez definitely took a step back this year, and we need him to get back to his rookie year form. We like Nikola Jovic on the wing, but he still has a lot of growth that needs to happen and he needs to be more consistent. Andrew Wiggins is still an effective player, although not nearly the defensive terror he was in Golden State.

In the backcourt, Tyler Herro was an all-star, and he just had a super year and while we're very happy with him, we know if he's your #1 option, you aren't winning a title. He needs to be your #2. That's where the free agent signing is going to need to come in. We can't count on Terry Rozier anymore. We are very excited by what we saw late in the year and in the playoffs from Davion Mitchell, but was it enough to spend the money necessary to keep him? We'll see.

What we need, while we wait for the big fish, is an injection of offense and some excitement. The team seems to have flat-lined. In order to address the need for scoring and some fun, we are drafting Walter Clayton, Jr. out of the University of Florida. Clayton is on the small side, but he is an absolutely superb shotmaker, finding angles, finding ways to get shots off over bigger and more athletic guys. He is super clutch, and proved it over and over during his first team All-American senior season, of course leading the Gators to the national championship. The kid is just a winner. As a UF product, he'll bring added excitement to Miami. Will it be problematic to have him and Herro in the backcourt together defensively? Yes. But whenever necessary, we can bring in wing Haywood Highsmith, who is our version of Lu Dort -- Highsmith is one of the best backcourt/wing defenders in the league. So there it is: the Heat take a swing and select Walter Clayton, Jr. from the University of Florida.
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Love this pick
 
After a surprise run to the NBA finals (and a good chance to win it all), the Pacers are sitting pretty in the east. Ty Haliburton is a clutch performer and budding star and Pascal Siakam is a solid #2 option. The Pacers have a young, solid core that prides itself on defense, and the only major piece they need to worry about this offseason is what they will do if Myles Turner takes the money and runs to a new team.

As such, the Pacers are looking for some size that can also stretch the floor to replace some of what Turner did so well. There isn’t really a defender at his level, so the Pacers will look for a big that can shoot.

As such, the Pacers select Maxime Reynaud, Stanford.

Reynaud performed well against high level competition such as Duke in the ACC, and really impressed recently in pre-draft combine scrimmages. At 7,1”, he can help protect the rim and rebounds well while stretching the floor with his outside shooting.
 
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Really like the Reynaud pick. I gave him a long look but went with youth over skills. Reynaud is ready to help a team on day one, that's for sure.
 
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