The college basketball season tips off on Monday. Here are the names we are tracking for the 2025 NBA Draft.
The college basketball season is officially upon us and there is a wave of talented, high-flying and offensive-polished freshmen who are about to take the sport by storm. Get ready.
Due to back-to-back relatively weak freshmen classes and the extra COVID season, college veterans rose into the last two NBA Draft lotteries. This year will be a lot different. Heading into the 2025 draft it’s the freshmen’s class time to shine once again. The high-level star power is back.
To kick off the first NBA Draft Big Board of the season, we are starting smaller this year and will build it out in the coming weeks and months.
High School Ranking: No. 1 (2024)
Cooper Flagg is going to dominate headlines all season long at Duke. He is not only the top freshman coming into the season but he’s also the youngest player coming into college basketball. Flagg is a 6-foot-9, do-it-all forward – and there’s no understating the ‘do-it-all’ adjective. He’s long, athletic, skilled, tough as nails, confident, mature and simply put – a winner. Flagg can create off the dribble, make shots from three and mid-range and pass and create for others. He is a terrific rebounder but what he does best of all is defend all over the court.
Flagg is a rare player who was able to reclassify up, maintain his No. 1 ranking in high school, and still hold the extremely lofty expectations entering college.
No. 2: Airious ‘Ace’ Bailey, SF, Rutgers
High School Ranking: No. 2 (2024)
When it comes to raw talent and ability, there is none more gifted in the freshman class than Rutgers’ freshman Ace Bailey. He’s a 6-foot-9, long wing with electrifying and explosive athleticism. Bailey will make Rutgers in 2024-25 must-see TV. He is an explosive scorer who will throw down monstrous SportsCenter Top10-worthy dunks but also score in bunches as a pure shot-maker.
Like Flagg, Bailey is very young, but Bailey is still learning the nuances of the game and polishing his decision-making and maturity on the court — he’s similar to Anthony Edwards entering college. He is an explosive athlete and scorer, doing so by relying on his raw talent and abilities which gives him immense upside as he continues to learn the game and mature as a player.
High School Ranking: No. 3 (2024)
Alongside Bailey at Rutgers will be Dylan Harper, the younger brother of former Scarlet Knights star Ron Harper Jr. and the son of former NBA player Ron Harper Sr.
The younger Harper is a 6-foot-5 guard who is a smooth operator on the court. He’s a highly skilled southpaw with great size, feel, and instincts on the court. Harper has a unique ability to play on and off the ball and to operate as a playmaker both as a scorer and facilitator. He has continued to polish his shot-making ability from mid-range and from three but is also an outstanding finisher with great touch and finesse around the rim.
Harper is one of the most reliable, productive, and consistent players in the 2024 class. While he ranks below Bailey on this Big Board, there’s a good chance he’s Rutgers’ best player on a nightly basis and becomes one of the best guards in the country this season.
High School Ranking: NA
The top international prospect in the 2025 draft class is Nolan Traore, a 6-foot-5 French point guard out of INSEP. Traore was on the brink of going the college route before deciding to stay in France and play professionally this season. Had Traore gone to college, he would’ve been ranked as a top-five recruit in the class. He has great size and a terrific frame for the position but what separates him is his ability to make plays as a scorer and facilitator. Traore has a great feel, IQ, and understanding of the game already. He can read defenses, create out of ball screens, and get shots from himself and others.
Traore had shined in various settings up to this point and had proved to be among the very best in this draft class.
High School Ranking: No. 5 (2024)
Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears have a big-time freshman coming in who is tailor-made for the Bears program in VJ Edgecombe. A 6-foot-5 shooting guard, Edgecomb is among the best athletes in all of college basketball. He’s extremely explosive, quick, strong, and moves exceptionally well laterally. Edgecombe has a tough, dog mindset on the defensive end of the court and brings an ‘it’ factor with his ability to make plays on both sides of the ball to impact winning.
He’s older for the class but blossomed late in his high school career, making significant strides in his half-court game during his senior season of high school. Offensively, Edgecombe is an explosive downhill guard with a devastating first step who finishes high above the rim, can make shots from three, and has shown flashes as a playmaker for others with his passing.
High School Ranking: No. 4 (2024)
Khaman Maluach is a 7-foot-2 big man that could make a push into the top five this season. He was at the NBA Africa Academy for his high school career where he was able to show how he can impact the game at a high level with his rim protection, ability to anchor a defense and flashes of offensive potential. He still has some rawness to him and is still adapting and learning the game but as he settles in at Duke, the flashes of what he showed throughout high school could continue to become more consistent and reliable aspects in his game where he can catch lobs, score on the block and step out to make shots from mid-range and the occasional three.
High School Ranking: No. 6 (2024)
Texas won a big recruiting victory over Baylor last year, landing them the top player in the state of Texas: Tre Johnson. Johnson is a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who is a potent scorer with a specialty in shot-making. He’s filled out his frame and is ready to step in and make a big impact for the Longhorns this season where he will pour in jumpers with range.
High School Ranking: No. 19 (2024)
Asa Newell has been a promising prospect for quite some time and he is generating a lot of buzz out of Georgia. He’s a 6-foot-10 power forward with a high IQ for the game and has steadily built his frame over the last 18 months. Newell is a skilled stretch-four who has a game ready to plug-and-play this season and could prove to be that for the NBA. His ability to make shots from three, attack off the dribble, distribute the ball, rebound, and protect the rim give him a high floor while having high upside as he continues to get stronger and polish the jumper.
High School Ranking: No. 11 (2024)
There may not be a better perimeter defender in this class than North Carolina’s Drake Powell. The 6-foot-6 wing is an exceptional athlete who is explosive and very agile in his ability to change speeds and direction and get elevation off the ground in an instant. He plays with a high motor, competes on every possession, and will be a lockdown defender for the Tar Heels. The offensive side of the ball is a work in progress for Powell and an area that he will continue to improve.
High School Ranking: No. 18 (2024)
There wasn’t a bigger snub in last year’s McDonald’s All-American Game than Duke freshman Kon Knueppel. The 6-foot-5 wing was among the most productive, consistent, and efficient players in all of grassroots basketball last season. There is tons of buzz right now out of Duke about the star freshmen.
Knueppel’s draft projection will be one of the more intriguing cses to follow. He may not have the upside many players in this draft class have which could lead him to slide down the list as the season progresses, but he does have an extremely high floor. That is why we have him slotted at No. 10 before the season starts.
Knueppel is a driller from three but he’s far more than just a shooter — he has the ability to score off the bounce as well. He’s tough, extremely skilled, smart, and competes at a high level.
High School Ranking: No. 10 (2024)
Liam McNeeley is a 6-foot-7 forward with a lot of versatility to his game. He’s a high IQ and skilled prospect who is a sniper from deep. He will be a perfect fit in Dan Hurley’s offensive system with his ability to fly off screens to make shots, put the ball on the deck, and facilitate the basketball. Like Knueppel, McNeeley doesn’t possess a super high ceiling but he has a very high floor that solidifies himself early as a potential first-round pick.
High School Ranking: No. 8 (2024)
Ian Jackson has been a big name in the grassroots space for the entirety of his high school career. Because he matured earlier than many of his peers he became one of the top players in the class. Jackson has explosive athleticism and sharp instincts as a scorer. However, unlike many kids who mature early, Jackson continued to develop his game and get better, particularly in the half-court and as a shooter.
Jackson still has room to grow as a shooter but with his ability to get downhill, finish at the rim, and defend, he looks like a promising first-rounder entering the season at North Carolina.
High School Ranking: No. 16 (2024)
Egor Demin is one of the most intriguing players entering college basketball this season. He produced against some top youth European competition with Real Madrid last year but his best basketball still appears to be ahead of him. He’s a 6-foot-8 combo guard with real vision and playmaking potential. Demin is a fluid athlete who is comfortable creating off the bounce and still has an immature frame to continue developing. As he gets stronger and settled in at BYU, Denim could climb boards, especially if he proves to be a consistent shooter from three.
High School Ranking: No. 22 (2024)
The buzz out of Arkansas around Boogie Fland has been loud. Maybe it’s an overreaction, but what he did against Kansas in the exhibition verified the noise. Fland was a mainstream name in high school thanks to his potent shot-making, shiftiness with the ball, and ability to create off the dribble. Over the last year, he has really pieced his game together, pairing the shot-making and ball-handling to become a dynamic three-level scorer and playmaker for others. John Calipari has proven year after year what he can do with guards like that and it certainly looks like he has his guy for this season at Arkansas.
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