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With the college basketball season less than a month away, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg led the way on the 2025 NBA draft big board from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo.
“The 17-year-old’s versatility on both ends of the floor will make him an impact player from Day 1 despite his youth, as he’s already one of the best teenage defenders you’ll find with his exceptional combination of intensity, instincts and explosiveness,” Givony wrote.
Here’s the top five from ESPN:
ESPN 2025 NBA Draft Big Board—Top Five
Flagg is the consensus favorite for the No. 1 pick in 2025 and has been for some time. He put up 16.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game as a senior at Montverde Academy and impressed those who saw him with the USA select team before the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman compared Flagg to a mix of former Utah Jazz star Andre Kirilenko and the Orlando Magic’s Paolo Banchero.
While the Blue Devils star has the inside track to go first overall next summer, Givony entertained the idea that either one of Rutgers’ blue-chip recruits, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, could leap to the top of draft boards as the season unfolds.
The pair were second and third respectively behind Flagg in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2024 class, and that’s how they lined up for Givony and Woo.
“How quickly Bailey can get up to speed with his shot selection, his decision-making, his off-ball defensive awareness and the demanding nature of the college game will determine whether he can become a potential No. 1 pick challenger, but NBA scouts are not ruling him out because of his immense long-term upside,” he wrote of Bailey.
On Harper, Givony praised his growth as a playmaker after the 6’6″ guard had already displayed his scoring ability in high school.
No player in men’s basketball will garner more attention than Flagg in 2024-25. Fans have been eagerly awaiting his arrival in college for years.
Bailey and Harper will generate plenty of intrigue, too, both in terms of how their draft stock is evolving and whether they can make the Scarlet Knights a serious threat in the NCAA tournament.
