Cooper Flagg to Mavs, Ace Bailey Falls to Wizards in ESPN's NBA Mock Draft amid Finals

The 2025 NBA draft is just over a week away, and there are some slight changes to the projections for where some of the top players will land.

While ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo maintained in their latest mock draft that the Dallas Mavericks would use the No. 1 pick to select Duke star Cooper Flagg, they predicted that Rutgers wing Ace Bailey would fall to the Washington Wizards with the No. 6 pick.

Bailey was the No. 2 overall recruit in the nation behind Flagg in the 2024 recruiting class, per 247Sports. However, his freshman year with the Scarlet Knights was overshadowed by the impressive rise of fellow freshman teammate Dylan Harper, who is expected to be the No. 2 pick in the draft by the San Antonio Spurs.

While Bailey is scheduled to work out with the Philadelphia 76ers later this week, Givony noted that Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe already appears to be "the leader in the clubhouse" to be the No. 3 pick after his strong workout with the Sixers last week.

"Should the Sixers pass on him, he could very well slide to the No. 6 or No. 7 picks, two teams in Washington and New Orleans that are said to be highly intrigued with the 18-year-old's talent," Givony stated of Bailey. "And both are situations in which there appear to be plenty of minutes and shots to be had."

Bailey is a high-volume scorer who will need time to develop into a complete player, so perhaps it won't be too bad for his long-term outlook for him to slide to the Wizards or another team better-suited for his style of play.