2025 DBR Mock Draft - That's a wrap!

brevity said:
There are about 18 international early entrants who have not been chosen yet in this thread, but I can't recommend any of them until we officially know they stayed in the draft (and that information may not be available until after this mock draft is complete).
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Okay, we know more now. Jonathan Givony reports that 15 international early entry players are staying in the draft. Nine of them have already been selected in this mock draft, which means you CAN pick any of these six, if you want:

Izan Almansa, Spain -- NBL/Perth Wildcats
Mohamed Diawara, France -- Pro A/Cholet Basket
Eli Ndiaye, Senegal/Spain -- Liga ACB/Real Madrid
Saliou Niang, Senegal/Italy -- Serie A/Trento
Dink Pate, USA -- NBA G League/Mexico City Capitanes
Alex Toohey, Australia -- NBL/Sydney Kings

Almansa, Pate, and Toohey participated in the NBA Combine, so you can look up their anthro measurements, strength and agility, and shooting drills.

Diawara's numbers are here, courtesy of Nick Kalinowski.

Niang's numbers from the 2025 Adidas Eurocamp are here, courtesy of Jon Chepkevich.

That leaves Ndiaye. I haven't seen any official numbers for him -- he was invited to the G League Elite Camp in both 2024 and 2025, but he was unable to attend. Ersin Demir has a scouting report from 2023 that says a then 18-year-old Ndiaye was a 6-9 forward with a 7-0 wingspan. No Ceilings NBA has an article from 2024 that makes Ndiaye both shorter (6-8) and longer (7-1).
 
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Here is where we currently stand (for easy reference) --

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 -- Danny Wolf, Michigan
25. Orlando -- pfrduke -- Rasheer Fleming, Wing, St. Joseph’s
26. Brooklyn -- godins -- Asa Newell, F/C, Georgia
27. Brooklyn -- godins -- Ben Saraf, G, Ratiopharm Ulm, Israel
28. Boston -- pokeresq -- Drake Powell, W, unc
29. Phoenix -- Gooch -- Noah Penda, W, Le Mans Sarthe Basket, France
30. LA Clippers -- pcal6vb -- Ryan Kalenbrenner, C, Creighton

Second Round --
31. Minnesota - Turk -- Tyrese Proctor, G, Duke
32. Boston -- pokeresq -- Bogoljub Markovic, C, Serbia
33. Charlotte -- jam -- Will Riley, F, Illinois
34. Charlotte -- jam -- Yanic Konan Niederhauser, F, Penn St
35. Philadelphia -- RoyWhite -- Johni Broome, PF, Auburn
36. Brooklyn - godins -- Sion James, G, Duke
37. Detroit - scottdude8 -- Kobe Brea, G/F, Kentucky
38. San Antonio - Brevity - Tamar Bates, G/F, Missouri
39. Toronto -- FerryFor50 -- Hansen Yang, C, China
40. Washington -- accfanfrom1970 -- Rocco Zikarsky, C, Brisbane, Australia
41. Golden State -- accfanfrom1970 -- Vladislav Goldin, C, Michigan
42. Sacramento -- Brevity -- Adou Thiero, W, Arkansas
43. Utah -- coldriver10 -- Kam Jones, G, Marquette
44. Oklahoma City -- DaddyLawman -- John Tonje, G, Wisconsin
45. Chicago -- CDu -- Javon Small, PG, West Virginia
46. Orlando -- pfrduke -- RJ Luis, G, St. John’s
47. Milwaukee -- phaedrus -- Hugo Gonzalez, SF, Real Madrid, Spain
48. Memphis -- House P -- Brooks Barnhizer, G, Northwestern
49. Cleveland -- ehdg -- Grant Nelson, F, Alabama
50. New York -- Billy Dat -- Dylan Cardwell, C, Auburn
51. LA Clippers -- pcal6vb
52. Phoenix -- Gooch
53. Utah -- coldriver10
54. Indiana -- FerryFor50
55. LA Lakers -- KDogg
— New York (pick forfeited)
56. Memphis -- House P
57. Orlando -- pfrduke
58. Cleveland -- ehdg
59. Houston -- MrJeffSchwartz0
 
pcal6vb said:
The mock Los Angeles Clippers ended their season in yet another disappointing result for the Kawhi Leonard era (jointly the Paul George and/or James Harden eras(s), depending on season). Harden has a player option, and if he returns (whether he takes it or negotiates something higher or lower with the team), the Clippers are positioned to retain the core of their team, plus pay their 1st round pick, without going into the punitive luxury tax aprons. They don't have much space to spend big in free agency, though, so, barring a blockbuster trade, this draft pick is likely to be their best value addition this summer.

The mock Clippers are looking hard at following one of the league's hot trends - either adding a versatile, energetic wing defender (in the molds of Josh Hart, OG Annunoby, Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, etc.) OR grabbing some size (in the mold of Zach Edey) to protect the paint off the bench and contend with the Jokic's and Embiid's of the world. For the former, the mock Clippers considered Arkansas's Adou Thiero, indefatigable in the true Josh Hart mold (and if only he can become serviceable from 3, like Mr. Hart) as well as Spain's Hugo Gonzalez, a bit of an enigma in that he only comes off the bench for Real Madrid, but as a 19-year old shows some impressive defensive scrap and length. (Note: truly, our main target for this wing defender role was St. John's Rasheer Fleming, but alas, he was selected 25th).

For the latter, the mock clippers eyed Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, a guy screaming to cause matchup problems for 2nd units all regular season, swat shots and deter paint forays, make the occasional 3-pointer, and catch lobs like he's taking a sip of water (sssshhh...just don't ask him to switch pick and rolls onto NBA point guards).

Because 7'6" wingspans with touch and skill don't grow on trees, with the 30th and final pick of the DBR mock first round, the mock Los Angeles Clippers select 7'1" Center Ryan Kalkbrenner from Creighton.
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As the mock Los Angeles Clippers contemplated the 51st pick in the DBR mock draft, they revisited their other (unfulfilled) goal from 1st round considerations above - that of a versatile, energetic wing defender. Drafting in the back half of the second round, and without much sure bets for NBA role-playing left on the board, we are inclined to take a bigger swing on a project that could develop into something more if the dominoes fall just right. And who knows - if we blow up the Kawhi Leonard area in the next couple years, there might be plenty of space for a project to develop on a rebuilding team.

As such, with the 51st pick in the DBR mock draft, the mock Los Angeles Clippers select 6'6" Wing Dink Pate from Mexico City Capitanes and the G-League Ignite.

@Gooch and the mock Phoenix Suns are up next.
 
Well we thought the 6-team trade for Kevin Durant would be done now and we wouldn’t end up with this pick. Also thought Sion James or Tyrese Proctor would be a possibility here, but it is the DBR draft so no!

So to keep things moving (and finish up before my flight takes off), the Phoenix Suns select Lachlan Olbrich, 6-9 big from Illawarra in the Australian league. He impressed us with his 2 double-doubles in the Combine scrimmages although he looked a bit slow at times. We also like his accent:


@coldriver10 and Utah are on the clock..
 
Gooch said:
So to keep things moving (and finish up before my flight takes off), the Phoenix Suns select Lachlan Olbrich, 6-9 big from Illawarra in the Australian league...
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Lachlan Olbrich is a unicorn, not because of his play, but because he's one of those international players who are automatically eligible for the NBA Draft this year because of their age -- he turns 22 in December. (I'm sure there are plenty of them, but man, are they hard to find. You only see reports about the early entry candidates, the ones who don't turn 22 this calendar year.)

He does have one unicornish feature: he and Hansen Yang both have 10-inch hands, tied for the longest in this year's NBA Combine. But while Yang's hands are 11.25 inches wide, tied at first with Vladislav Goldin and Ryan Kalkbrenner, Olbrich's hands were measured at 9 inches wide, which is tied for 9th smallest of any player that day, even the guards. (Don't be too alarmed; frontcourt players Ace Bailey, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Will Riley, and Thomas Sorber have the same hand widths.)

Olbrich has a tenuous Duke connection. His coach of the Illawarra Hawks last season was Justin Tatum, Jayson's father. Coach Tatum has already taken a new job for a pro team in Indonesia. I feel like he and Marques Bolden (not on the team, but of Indonesian descent) can join forces to convince Jon Scheyer to schedule a team trip to Bali, Java, and Sumatra. Maybe in the summer of 2026?
 
Apologies for the delay. With the 53rd pick in the 2025 draft, the Utah Jazz select Michael Ruzic, PF/C, Joventut (Croatia).

The Jazz should have ideally come away with a big earlier in the draft, but the way the draft fell, we didn't feel there were any that were available at our picks that made sense. With this selection, we take a lean and raw but high-upside guy in Ruzic. I won't pretend that I've heard of him previously, but everything I've read makes this make sense. He's a stretch 5 who has great potential as both a good shooter and shot-blocker (8'11" standing reach!). He needs to gain some weight and more experience, but if there's anything the Jazz have this year, it's patience.
 
brevity said:
Second, there are now 5 international early entry players who also withdrew prior to their separate June 15 deadline. DON'T pick these guys either.

Alec Anigbata, Germany -- BBL/Ratiopharm Ulm
Mouhamed "Momo" Faye, Senegal -- Serie A/Reggiana
Ben Henshall, Australia -- NBL/Perth WIldcats
Malique Lewis, Trinidad -- NBL/SE Melbourne Phoenix
Michael Ružić, Croatia -- Liga ACB/Joventut Badalona
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coldriver10 said:
Apologies for the delay. With the 53rd pick in the 2025 draft, the Utah Jazz select Michael Ruzic, PF/C, Joventut (Croatia).

The Jazz should have ideally come away with a big earlier in the draft, but the way the draft fell, we didn't feel there were any that were available at our picks that made sense. With this selection, we take a lean and raw but high-upside guy in Ruzic. I won't pretend that I've heard of him previously, but everything I've read makes this make sense. He's a stretch 5 who has great potential as both a good shooter and shot-blocker (8'11" standing reach!). He needs to gain some weight and more experience, but if there's anything the Jazz have this year, it's patience.
Click to expand...

You want to try again?
 
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brevity said:
You want to try again?
Click to expand...
I appreciate your effort to prevent that from happening. Sadly, it was all in vain. Thanks for the heads up.

The Utah Jazz pivot and will take Amari Williams, C, Kentucky.

At 7'0", he has excellent size. He rebounds, finishes at the rim, and is a very good passer for a center. His shooting leaves quite a bit to be desired, but we have plenty of shooters now. We need a rim runner and protector. Forget that other guy we just tried to take, Amari was our guy all along!
 
After filling the hole that Myles Turner may leave with Maxime Reynaud, the Paces now look for an athletic wing.

With the 54th pick, the Pacers select Alex Toohey, Australia.

Toohey has been predicted to go in the early 2nd round, so getting him this late is a nice surprise.

From mock drafts:

Alex Toohey had a strong showing in Chicago, showing off his improved shooting and looking like an interchangeable big wing or stretch 4 during scrimmages. His range, off-ball finishing and mobility should make him one of the top options after the first round finishes.
 
The Los Angeles Lakers find ourselves in circumstances that could be a Hollywood movie.
  • An aging superstar, maybe the greatest ever (not really), in the fleeting twilight of his career
  • A new younger superstar brought in as the corner stone of the future
  • A mix of characters including the underwhelming son of our aging star, rounding out the roster
  • A brash, second year, don't give a damn head coach at the helm of the ship balancing egos, entourages, and critics in win now mandate from ownership but also keep an eye out for the future.
Do we have a Bull Durham, a Major League (the first one when the lost in the World Series), Might Ducks, King Pin? We will find out.

Last year’s second round pick was all about making people happy. Those people were LeBron James and his family. So for no basketball reason whatsoever the Lakers drafted LeBron Raymone James Jr. We made up for that by stealing Luka Doncic from the Mavs...in broad daylight...as they held the door for us.

This year we can focus on basketball. As we make the transition from LeBron’s team to Luka’s team we try to fix the one problem from that trade: rejecting Mark Williams. We could use some perimeter defending and everyone would like shooters and bench help but a rim protector and a lob threat are the priority. Williams would have fit in nicely and solved the problem but without even a physical examine our questionable medical staff rejected him. So we go about addressing that now. A lot of the big men are now off the board so we pick through what's available. A few candidates emerge: Oumar Ballo, Clifford Omoruyi, Mouhamed Faye, Amari Williams, Viktor Lakhin and Izan Almansa. Ballo has the talent but not the desire. Almansa has a lot going for him (great rebounder, good passer in and out of the post, lots of effort, can switch...kind of) but can get pushed around and lacks confidence in his own shot. Lakhin is out for at least three months. Faye is the definition of project (and he withdrew after I did this write up). Williams is from The UK (+) but played for UK (-) (and now off the board now. He was the backup plan anyway).

So with the 55th pick the mock LA Lakers take Clifford Omoruyi. He's 6'11" with a 7'6" wingspan. He's got outstanding athleticism, a good defender, a rim protector and a lob threat. He's got a list of honors (2× Big Ten All-Defensive Team (2023, 2024), Second-team All-Big Ten (2023) before transferring to Alabama for his fifth year. Not a three point threat but he has a developing middle range jumper. (I don't want to hear from the analytic folks. Basketball is played on a court not a spreadsheet ;) )

@House P on the clock
 
As of this morning, here were the remaining names on Memphis’s draft board:

1. Alex Toohey
2. Micah Peavy
3. Yanic Konan Niederhauser
4. Hunter Salis
5. Spencer Hubbard
6. RJ Davis
7. Caleb Love

The Pacers selected Toohey, but Memphis is glad that they didn’t have to resort to option 6 or 7 on their list.

Therefore, Memphis selects Micah Peavy with the 56th pick in the DBR draft.

I am traveling and have limited internet access, so I’ll follow up with the rationale for this pick sometime tomorrow.
 
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Once again Orlando is looking at options to supplement its offense and surround Banchero and Wagner with guys who can knock down shots. Several options on the board but we're going with the guy who literally knocked down the most shots (considering all of 2s, 3s, and FTs together) in Eric Dixon, F, Villanova. Dixon led all of college basketball in points and scoring average and hit over 40% of his 3s on 7 attempts a game, plus over 81% from the line on about 6 attempts a game. Worth a flyer at this late stage of the draft.

Two picks left! @ehdg you're up.
 
I’m really hoping that my 59th pick Grant Nelson works out for the Cavs n happy my gamble paid off. I was stuck between 2 players at 49 but was worried if I past on Grant he’d be gone by the time I picked again at 59. Luckily I was right as the other player is still on the board n I’m taking him with the 59th pick. With Darius Garland having the Big Toe surgery recently n not being able to play for 5 to 6 months the Cavs need some depth at Pt. Guard. So I’m gonna go with an older player here who led the NCAA this past season in Assists. He’s a bit undersized but is a True Pt Guard n makes his teammates around him better. He’s a really good passer n also very competitive n when needed can show his scoring ability. So with the 59th pick the Cleveland Cavaliers select Ryan Nembhard, Pt. Guard out of Gonzaga.
 
With the 59th and final pick of the 2025 NBA draft second round the Houston Rockets select Hunter Sallis, guard. Houston makes this pic because he is the best player available in the opinion of me the temporary general manager of the Houston Rockets here on the DBR forum. At this point in the draft going BPA on a playoff team and finding a guy that we can turn into a two way player is essential and perhaps he ends up in a trade for Quinn Cook’s best friend Kevin Durant.
 
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Thanks everyone for keeping it going and getting us through it pretty quickly.

Looking forward to the real draft comparison!

-jk
 
These are the players who were picked in the same place in both drafts:
toughbuff111Cooper Flagg
roywhite33VJ Edgecombe
coldriver1055Ace Bailey
JNort77Jeremiah Fears

These are players who we picked before they were actually drafted in order of the difference:
UserDBRActualPlayerDifference
FerryFor502342Maxime Raynaud-19
Turk3149Tyrese Proctor-18
pokeresq3247Bogoljub Markovic-15
MrJeffSchwartz01019Nolan Traore-9
pfrduke1625Jase Richardson-9
Daddylawman4453John Tonje-9
brevity210Khaman Maluach-8
coldriver102129Liam McNeeley-8
JasonEvans1320Kasparas Jakucionis-7
pfrduke2531Rasheer Fleming-6
godins1924Nique Clifford-5
accfanfrom19704045Rocco Zikarsky-5
pcal6vb3034Ryan Kalkbrenner-4
scottdude83741Koby Brea-4
FerryFor50912Noa Essengue-3
toughbuff11114Carter Bryant-3
Daddylawman (made by JasonEvans)2427Danny Wolf-3
Gooch2932Noah Penda-3
CDu4548Javon Small-3
Gooch5255Lachlan Olbrich-3

These are the players who we picked after they were actually drafted in order of the difference:
UserDBRActualPlayerDifference
FerryFor503916Yang Hansen23
phaedrus4728Hugo Gonzalez19
House P5640Micah Peavy16
jam3321Will Riley12
accfanfrom1970188Egor Demin10
coldriver105346Amari Williams7
brevity4236Adou Thiero6
pokeresq2822Drake Powell6
coldriver104338Kam Jones5
JasonEvans2217Joan Beringer5
House P4844Brooks Barnhizer4
jam3430Yanic Konan Niederhauser4
brevity1411Cedric Coward3
CDu129Collin Murray-Boyles3
godins2623Asa Newell3
godins3633Sion James3
accfanfrom197064Kon Knueppel2
Daddylawman1513Derik Queen2
FerryFor505452Alex Toohey2
godins86Tre Johnson2
jam (made by JasonEvans)42Dylan Harper2
tommy2018Walter Clayton Jr.2
Turk1715Thomas Sorber2
godins2726Ben Saraf1

These are the players who we picked that were not drafted:
brevity38UTamar Bates
accfanfrom197041UVladislav Goldin
pfrduke46URJ Luis Jr.
ehdg49UGrant Nelson
Billy Dat50UDylan Cardwell
pcal6vb51UDink Pate
Kdogg55UClifford Omoruyi
pfrduke57UEric Dixon
ehdg58URyan Nembhard
MrJeffSchwartz059UHunter Sallis

These are the players who were not picked in our draft:
37Chaz Lanier
39Alijah Martin
43Jamir Watkins
50Kobe Sanders
51Mohamed Diawara
54Taelon Peter
56Will Richard
57Max Shulga
58Saliou Niang
59Jahmai Meshack
 
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