Just three days after the NBA season ends, the Association will keep things going with the 2025 draft. Free agency starts next week on June 30, so the league will be able to keep the iron hot for a bit here after the Thunder were crowned champions.
DraftKings and other sportsbooks have odds listed for the top-20 picks in tonight's first round. Using their numbers as of noon ET on Wednesday, we can get an idea of how the first round is expected to play out.
Let's dig in.
1. Cooper Flagg (-20000)
No surprise here. It would be one of the biggest shocks in the history of the draft if Flagg was not taken first overall.
2. Dylan Harper (-8000)
The Spurs will consider Harper a strong consolation prize. He'll step in next to the last two NBA Rookie of the Year winners in Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.
3. VJ Edgecombe (-350)
And here's where the draft somewhat "begins."
Edgecombe moved from -270 to -350 as I was typing this up. After a standout season at Baylor, he's poised to be a top-five pick.
Tre Johnson is +500, while Kon Knueppel and Ace Bailey are both +700. Knueppel's shooting would make him a safe-ish pick for the 76ers, while Bailey has made a lot of headlines with his pre-draft process.
4. Kon Knueppel (-185)
The Hornets will take the shooter in Knueppel, who would potentially thrive with LaMelo Ball running the point.
Bailey is +300, Edgecombe +425 and Johnson +750.
5. Jeremiah Fears (+150)
The uncertainty gets going here, where we have our first favorite at a plus-money number. Johnson is +220, Bailey +350 and Knueppel +500.
6. Ace Bailey (+130)
Bailey is favored to go sixth to the Wizards, a team that continues taking on veteran contracts and is in need of a young player with big upside. This seems like a good match.
The top two are set in stone, and there are five or six players expected to go after them in Edgecombe, Knueppel, Fears, Bailey, Johnson and the player favored to go seventh.
7. Khaman Maluach (+250)
For the first time in this exercise, the favored player is not the pick. Fears is +220 to go seventh, but he has already been taken by the Jazz at No. 5.
Bailey is +450 and Johnson +500. Derik Queen has entered the conversation at +650.
8. Tre Johnson (+350)
Johnson is an option starting at pick No. 3, so the Nets may be very happy to get him at No. 8.
A lot more players are on the board below 10-1 here. Fears is +425, Noa Essengue, Maluach, Cedric Coward and Bailey are all +600, and Kasparas Jakucionis is +850.
9. Noa Essengue (+280)
Maluach is favored here at +250, so Essengue is our pick at +270. Queen is +450 and Carter Bryant is +500. Jakucionis is +650 and Coward is +800.
10. Derik Queen (+350)
Note: This pick is going to Phoenix in the trade that will send Kevin Durant to Houston.
There are nine players below +1000 for the 10th overall pick, which tells you that this point of the draft becomes a crapshoot. It'd make sense that the Suns would be looking for a player who could help win now.
