A Brief 2025 Draft Post

This will be short and sweet.

This post will be a placeholder while I’m learning about this year’s draft process.

Those that follow me on Twitter (and I will still call it that), are likely to have seen these lists before.

First, my controversial lottery picks:

1. Cooper Flagg

2. Kasparas Jakucionis

3. Kon Knueppel

4. Dylan Harper

5. Derik Queen

6. Colin Murray-Boyles

7. Ace Bailey

8. VJ Edgecombe

9. Jeremiah Fears

10. Carter Bryant

11. Jase Richardson

12. Liam McNeeley

13. Nique Clifford

14. Khaman Maluach

No, I did not include Tre Johnson, Asa Newell, Noa Essengue, or Egor Demin. I’m still learning about them, and frankly, I’m not as big of a fan on an initial impression.

As for the late 2nd round to UDFA for now:

Yanic Konan Niederhauser

Jamir Watkins

Sion James

Andrej Stojakovic

Kobe Johnson

Michael Ajayi

Tobi Lawal

Augustus Marciulionis

Hansen Yang

Henri Veesaar

We’ll see what players decide to declare and which others decide to stay. I never thought the NIL would have this much impact on the draft, but it will have a few players than usual deciding to return instead of taking their chances in the 2nd round.

I only expect 10-15 players out of this draft class to comfortably make it to their second contracts. I’m not optimistic about finding an NBA player in the second round. There is a chance a player can develop into one, but with the Lakers in the middle of a playoff/championship hunt, are they willing to wait at least two years for development?

That’s yet to be seen. Fortunately, there is proof of development into the parent team as shown by Koloko, Goodwin, and Trey Jemison.

Feel free to start asking questions either on here, or preferably on Bluesky.