NBA Draft 2025 Latest Mock Predictions from Industry Experts amid NBA Finals
NBA draft season is in full swing.
The talent grab will actually get rolling in less than a week.
Experts should, then, have a clearer view of this class than they've had at any point before. Evaluations are, for the most part, fully finished. Discussions have been had. Whispers have been heard.
So, it's absolutely the right time to go digging through the recent expert mocks to see what valuable information they might hold.
Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman
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The first mock to head under the microscope comes from B/R's own Jonathan Wasserman. Since the first two picks seem cemented—Cooper Flagg to the Dallas Mavericks, Dylan Harper to the San Antonio Spurs—eyes travel pretty quickly to the No. 3 pick, where Wasserman had the Philadelphia 76ers selecting scoring forward Ace Bailey.
"The Sixers will likely consider VJ Edgecombe, who'd give them a different element of explosion and defensive quickness," Wasserman wrote. "But with Paul George having just turned 35 off a down year, and Joel Embiid's reliability and value in question, Bailey's scoring potential may become more enticing."
Then, the mock went with Edgecombe to the Charlotte Hornets at No. 4, Tre Johnson to the Utah Jazz at No. 5 and Jeremiah Fears to the Washington Wizards at No. 6. Duke center Khaman Maluach to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 7 might be considered a mild surprise, but New Orleans could double-down at the center spot after taking Yves Missi at No. 21 last year.
French forward Noa Essengue—who drew a Jerami Grant comparison from Wasserman—went next to the Brooklyn Nets, while Kon Knueppel joined the Toronto Raptors at No. 9. The Houston Rockets rounded out the top 10 with Kasparas Jakucionis, whom Wasserman likened to Coby White.
ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo
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This mock from the ESPN crew went live a few weeks after Wasserman's and represents a few recent trends in the mock draft space. Namely, Edgecombe taking over the No. 3 spot and the helium attached to Arizona swingman Carter Bryant (No. 10) and French shot-blocker Joan Beringer (No. 14).
Givony noted Edgecombe impressed during his visit with the Sixers, "where sources say he made a strong impression in a private workout as well as in meetings with the front office and ownership." Givony later reported that Bailey had canceled his visit to Philadelphia, although Givony noted that the Sixers "have not ruled out selecting Bailey despite his refusal to visit."
Bailey arguably has the higher ceiling, but he's also less polished than Edgecombe. It's hard to tell how much any of that should matter to the Sixers, since their win-now attempts this past season fell apart among ongoing injury issues and a rash of inconsistency.
As for Bryant—who went 16th in Wasserman's mock—Givony noted he has "received strong reviews throughout the predraft process." Bryant doesn't have enough creation to be more than a support piece, but he fits the three-and-D archetype pretty easily and offers more playmaking than the label implies.
With Beringer—Wasserman's 24th pick—Givony called him "the draft's best shot blocker" and noted he had "similar measurements to Jaren Jackson Jr. and Myles Turner at the same age."
CBS Sports' Matt Norlander
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Before getting going with his mock, Norlander wrote that people probably aren't talking about "how relatively thin [this draft] is, top to bottom." Norlander even furthered that take by writing, "it's easy to make the case that this year is destined to see a lot of misses in the lottery."
This class feels more average than shallow, but there is a lot of congestion once you get past the top few tiers.
As for Norlander's picks, he sent Bailey to the Sixers, Johnson to the Hornets and Edgecombe to the Jazz. With most mocks, if Edgecombe is still on the board at No. 4, Charlotte snatches him up. His fit as a defense-first guard with downhill attacking seems ideal to put between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, but it's possible the Hornets would want to roll the dice on Johnson's shotmaking.
This mock was also highest on Jakucionis, who was sent to New Orleans at No. 7. Norlander conceded Jakucionis had "some freshman-year bumps at Illinois," but still felt "the size, vision, screen-reading interpretations and hungry mentality as a rebounding guard put him in the second tier for me."
With Jakucionis climbing up, it was Fears—a top-seven pick at B/R and ESPN—who fell down, landing with the Raptors at No. 9. Norlander called him a "polarizing prospect" and noted that "I wouldn't have him this high," citing his "sometimes non-existent" defense and lack of size. That said, Norlander also conceded Fears is "fast, good with the ball in his hands, advanced for his age and has fun natural scoring instincts" and noted that "going off the buzz around the NBA, it's hard to get much further down without slotting Fears into a pick."
