2025 Draft Winners and Losers

[JMAC3]

Winners
Pelicans - Drafted my #5 and #7 ranked players in Fears and Queen. I get it cost a lot to move up, but hard to hate the draft if they land two top 7 guys via my rankings. Peavy feels like a solid swing in 2nd.
Kings- Landing both Clifford and Raynaud, my 23rd and 21st players.
Suns- Maluach, Fleming and Brea is a haul.
Spurs- Harper and Bryant is a great combo.
Heat - Kasparas was ranked on my board, got him 20th.

Losers
Nets - Reached on Egor, should have went Queen or Kasparas in my ranks. Other picks were fine value wise, but feels like they missed up top.
Hornets - Kon was a reach on my board, ranked 11th. Other 3 picks were fine values- especially Kalkbrenner.
Raptors - CMB was a reach on my board, ranked 18th and took him 9th. Fit seems questionable. Martin felt like bad fit in 2nd.
Blazers - Hansen Yange was ranked 37th on my board, reached to 16th for him when they just spent 8th pick on center last draft.
Wolves - Was lower on Beringer, had him ranked 34th and they took him 17th.

Underated drafts
Celtics- Hugo and Shulga were good stabs. Amari was iffy to me, but still.
Golden State- Like both Toohey and Richard selections.

[JRoy]

Winner: POR

Just gained 1 billion fans.

[Cammo101]

The Pelicans will go down as the biggest losers in this draft when they hand over that top 8 pick next year to the Hawks, who are probably the actual biggest winners in this draft outside of the Mavericks.

[JMAC3]

The Pelicans will go down as the biggest losers in this draft when they hand over that top 8 pick next year to the Hawks, who are probably the actual biggest winners in this draft outside of the Mavericks.

You think it was that bad? You had Fears ranked 6th and Queen ranked 9th. Pelicans were considering Queen at 7 from the rumors, so good chance they had both guys ranked in their top 5. Does that change your opinion of the trade?

[babyjax13]

Losers:
1. Pelicans: they've been a playoff team when Zion has played ONCE since he was drafted AND the West is more competitive this year than it has ever been. The roster fits together terribly, and there is a chance Giannis is traded before the offseason. The pick they traded to Atlanta, IMO, has a 95% chance of being a lottery pick. Then there is the Indiana pick that could also be a lottery pick with Haliburton out next year (especially if Siakam and/or Turner miss any time). Then there is the horrible fit of that roster - they might give up 130ppg.
2. Brooklyn: I don't think it is a hugely negative draft, but I don't love Egor at 8. I like several of the players they drafted, but it is clear they don't care too much about fit.
3. Portland: it is not the player, but the fit. They just drafted a center in the lottery, so why pick Yang? If they think Yang is that much better, they should have moved Clingan (perhaps they still will). I did have Yang in this range on my board, so I don't think it is horrible.

Winners:
1. Atlanta: inverse New Orleans team "a"
2. Indiana: inverse New Orleans team "b"
3. Miami: I love that they picked the obvious guy at 20, I've very mad Utah passed on him, but we will see if that was the right decision.
4. LA Lakers: I like their draft in the second round
5. Orlando: I like the fit of their draftees. No tremendous value, just think they may have filled out their rotation in a nice way.
6. Phoenix: Again, nice value on the guys they picked, nothing earth shattering

I think a lot of teams did well, but it was mostly obvious picks. I liked that Washington went Tre Johnson and that Utah went Ace Bailey, both of those feel like picks where they didn't overthink but just took BPA.

[Cammo101]

The Pelicans will go down as the biggest losers in this draft when they hand over that top 8 pick next year to the Hawks, who are probably the actual biggest winners in this draft outside of the Mavericks.

You think it was that bad? You had Fears ranked 6th and Queen ranked 9th. Pelicans were considering Queen at 7 from the rumors, so good chance they had both guys ranked in their top 5. Does that change your opinion of the trade?

I really like both players, but neither guy are instant impact franchise changers, so giving up an unprotected first in next years very good draft given the current state of that roster is bananas. They are a Zion injury from that pick possibly being Peterson, Dybansta, or Boozer. That is an insane price to pay to go from Newell to Queen.

[Cammo101]

Losers:
1. Pelicans: they've been a playoff team once since drafting Zion AND the West is more competitive this year than it has ever been. The roster fits together terribly, and there is a chance Giannis is traded before the offseason. The pick they traded to Atlanta, IMO, has a 95% chance of being a lottery pick. Then there is the Indiana pick that could also be a lottery pick with Haliburton out next year (especially if Siakam and/or Turner miss any time). Then there is the horrible fit of that roster - they might give up 130ppg.
2. Brooklyn: I don't think it is a hugely negative draft, but I don't love Egor at 8. I like several of the players they drafted, but it is clear they don't care too much about fit.
3. Portland: it is not the player, but the fit. They just drafted a center in the lottery, so why pick Yang? If they think Yang is that much better, they should have moved Clingan (perhaps they still will). I did have Yang in this range on my board, so I don't think it is horrible.

Winners:
1. Atlanta: inverse New Orleans team "a"
2. Indiana: inverse New Orleans team "b"
3. Miami: I love that they picked the obvious guy at 20, I've very mad Utah passed on him, but we will see if that was the right decision.
4. LA Lakers: I like their draft in the second round
5. Orlando: I like the fit of their draftees. No tremendous value, just think they may have filled out their rotation in a nice way.
6. Phoenix: Again, nice value on the guys they picked, nothing earth shattering

I think a lot of teams did well, but it was mostly obvious picks. I liked that Washington went Tre Johnson and that Utah went Ace Bailey, both of those feel like picks where they didn't overthink but just took BPA.

This was by and large my take as well.

[Chuck Everett]

I think Egor Denim is going to surprise people. And I am all-in on Nolan Traore being an eventual all-star in this league. For that reason, I have to wait for this cake to bake on whether Brooklyn made the right decisions. The only one I didn't have any opinion on was Saraf, but the rest I was fine with.

I've said enough about the Pelicans. That's another move we have to wait until 2026 NBA lotto. If they/Milwaukee are in the lotto and the pick falls in the top 4, this trade is a fireable offense unless Queen becomes an all-star caliber player. Lot of pressure to put on that young man because Dumars refuses to put some protections on the pick (say top-7).

[babyjax13]

I think Egor Denim is going to surprise people. And I am all-in on Nolan Traore being an eventual all-star in this league. For that reason, I have to wait for this cake to bake on whether Brooklyn made the right decisions. The only one I didn't have any opinion on was Saraf, but the rest I was fine with.

I've said enough about the Pelicans. That's another move we have to wait until 2026 NBA lotto. If they/Milwaukee are in the lotto and the pick falls in the top 4, this trade is a fireable offense unless Queen becomes an all-star caliber player. Lot of pressure to put on that young man because Dumars refuses to put some protections on the pick (say top-7).

tbh I would have been fine taking Traore 9th and I do think Demin is interesting. It isn't catastrophic, I just think they could have moved back and captured some future value rather than going Egor at 9.

[Chuck Everett]

I think Egor Denim is going to surprise people. And I am all-in on Nolan Traore being an eventual all-star in this league. For that reason, I have to wait for this cake to bake on whether Brooklyn made the right decisions. The only one I didn't have any opinion on was Saraf, but the rest I was fine with.

I've said enough about the Pelicans. That's another move we have to wait until 2026 NBA lotto. If they/Milwaukee are in the lotto and the pick falls in the top 4, this trade is a fireable offense unless Queen becomes an all-star caliber player. Lot of pressure to put on that young man because Dumars refuses to put some protections on the pick (say top-7).

tbh I would have been fine taking Traore 9th and I do think Demin is interesting. It isn't catastrophic, I just think they could have moved back and captured some future value rather than going Egor at 9.

Like you, I don't believe Nolan should have fallen as far as he did, but I know that Demin would not made it past Chicago nor San Antonio. In the end Brooklyn got both guys. To me, the grade should be for whether or not you think Demin is going to suck as an NBA player. If you think that, then the D or lower grades make all the sense in the world to me.

[Cammo101]

I think Egor Denim is going to surprise people. And I am all-in on Nolan Traore being an eventual all-star in this league. For that reason, I have to wait for this cake to bake on whether Brooklyn made the right decisions. The only one I didn't have any opinion on was Saraf, but the rest I was fine with.

I've said enough about the Pelicans. That's another move we have to wait until 2026 NBA lotto. If they/Milwaukee are in the lotto and the pick falls in the top 4, this trade is a fireable offense unless Queen becomes an all-star caliber player. Lot of pressure to put on that young man because Dumars refuses to put some protections on the pick (say top-7).

I like both Demin and Traore, but I don't think it gives either their best chance to succeed when you draft 4 ball dominate players with your 5 draft picks.

[The-Power]

I've said enough about the Pelicans. That's another move we have to wait until 2026 NBA lotto.

We must wait to see what ultimately happens, but we can and should absolutely assess the move right now. The Pelicans may end up being lucky and won't have to fork over a (high) lottery pick. But that wouldn't justify the decision in any way and that's not how we should evaluate trade deals.

[SeattleJazzFan]

i'm obviously biased, but even looking at it objectively, it seems like on paper (and that's all this is, right - we're looking at how teams did on paper since we have clue how things will actually turn out) the jazz did extremely well and i'm surprised that haven't even gotten a mention in this thread.

the got arguably the third best prospect (before all the pre-draft garbage about not working out, talking with philly, charlotte and utah, etc) and perhaps the highest ceiling prospect (outside of Flagg), and followed that up by getting the star of the NCAA tournament in Clayton.

I know Bailey isn't loved on this board, but the Jazz HAD to swing for the fences with their lottery pick, and they were able to do that. And to trade up a few slots to get the best player in the tournament, a guy with a high floor in Clayton was masterful.

[bucknut]

Assessing gms who had multiple picks
Thought Phoenix Brooklyn and Charlotte were awful drafts

Magic and jazz = A+

Quite a few teams where one guy can and did make it a success. Grizzlies getting coward feels like an absolute seamless fit to replace bane.

[juanc]

Winners:
Call me crazy but it's the Pelicans! Getting Fears and Queen, two of the players who I really like in Fears and Queen. Yes they have paid a steep prize, but they are getting some real talent out of this. Also they have a pretty good draft record in recent years if you ask me(Missi, Murphy, Herb,...)
Washington: Tre Johnson and Will Riley, also two guys I like and think will be good NBA players.
Thomas Sorber and OKC: Sorber lands in a perfect situation for his skillset if you ask me. Surrounded with great athletes, defenders, so he will be able to showcase his smarts and defensive instincts.
Lakers: I realy like Thiero and getting him with the 36th pick is a steal IMO.
Boston: Love the Amari Williams pick, also think Gonzalez could end up being a sneaky good value pick in a few years.
Spurs: love the combo of Harper and Carter

LOSERS:
Charlotte: we are about to witness one of the worst defenses in league history
Blazers - Yang is a reach IMO
Suns - Not really a beliver in Maluach, Flemming could be a nice pick

[BigGargamel]

i'm obviously biased, but even looking at it objectively, it seems like on paper (and that's all this is, right - we're looking at how teams did on paper since we have clue how things will actually turn out) the jazz did extremely well and i'm surprised that haven't even gotten a mention in this thread.

the got arguably the third best prospect (before all the pre-draft garbage about not working out, talking with philly, charlotte and utah, etc) and perhaps the highest ceiling prospect (outside of Flagg), and followed that up by getting the star of the NCAA tournament in Clayton.

I know Bailey isn't loved on this board, but the Jazz HAD to swing for the fences with their lottery pick, and they were able to do that. And to trade up a few slots to get the best player in the tournament, a guy with a high floor in Clayton was masterful.

Falling to five was catastrophic for Utah, but they absolutely made the best of the situation they were in. The whole Bailey drama was overblown. He wanted to go to certain places, but never pulled a Steve Francis or Kobe Bryant (OMG, guys have always done this, imagine that) and said he would refuse to play anywhere. And he's been a good soldier since being drafted. That gamble, if you can even call it that, was well worth taking.

Knueppel going ahead of Bailey is going to look absolutely moronic in five years. Wesley Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins level bad.

[Cammo101]

Queen is now out for 12 weeks with an injury that can be lingering. Not a great start for the Pelicans on this trade.