Day 1 of the 2025 NBA Draft has come and gone, filling in with pen the blanks that fans had been doing so with pencils for months.
For some, the cerebral studying of big boards and rumour roundups led them to the exact conclusions they’d hoped for, while others left with more questions than when they started.
The beauty of the draft, however, is that we won’t know how any of it pans out — for better or worse — until action on the court resumes.
But that won’t stop us from opining over the festivities and deciding which teams come out looking shrewd and which might have some explaining to do.
With that being said, here are the biggest winners and losers from Day 1 of the 2025 NBA Draft.
When a team secures a golden goose the likes of Cooper Flagg, the most polished prospect in recent memory aside from Victor Wembanyama, after having just 1.8 per cent odds of doing so, they’re immediately winners.
Just a couple months ago, it felt like nothing short of a championship could get fans in Dallas to put down their pitchforks after the Mavs stunningly dealt Luka Doncic away to the Los Angeles Lakers, and even a title may not have been enough.
And although the organization banked on time truly healing all wounds, adding a shiny new six-foot-nine toy who can just about do it all on a basketball court will surely speed up that process.
Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. A lesson the six-foot-eight, tough-shot-taking-and-making wing may learn sooner rather than later.
Bailey’s pre-draft antics — the only American player to conduct zero workouts/interviews leading up to Wednesday, even cancelling a visit with the Philadelphia 76ers, who held the No. 3 pick, at the 11th hour — were well documented.
All of which was presumably done because the Rutgers product had specific landing spots in mind, seemingly outside the top five, and sought a “pathway to stardom” as ESPN’s Jonathan Givony described it. Now, he’ll have to find out if that journey goes through Utah, which reportedly was not a preferred destination for the 18-year-old.
Although the Jazz give him room to contribute right away, not all opportunities are created equal, and it’s hard to see that bright and starry path — behind already established forwards Lauri Markannen and John Collins — he was looking for on a team coming off an NBA-worst 17 wins last season, at least not immediately.
And if we’re talking about losers, Bailey may have lost about $9 million over the next four years — the difference in projected total value for the rookie contract of the No. 3 pick, which Bailey was touted to be early in the pre-draft process, to the fifth spot where he landed — because his camp was too focused on an ultimately futile effort to reverse engineer his selection.
It’s been a good couple of days in the ATL.
With new leadership at the helm, the Hawks deserve credit for actively trying to escape no man’s land in the Eastern Conference. The addition of Kristaps Porzingis via a low-cost trade was already a nice start, but Atlanta then stayed busy by trading down 10 spots on Wednesday and getting quite the intriguing future pick in return.
In giving the Pelicans the 13th overall selection this year, the Hawks secured an unprotected 2026 first — the more favourable of New Orleans and Milwaukee — in a much-anticipated draft class. And although the Pels have been procuring promising young players such as Jordan Poole via trade or using its two lottery selections on Jeremiah Fears (No. 7) and Derik Queen (No. 13), there’s no guarantee it pans out, given where the team stands in a loaded West and how much hinges on the oft-injured Zion Williamson. Meanwhile, the Bucks face plenty of question marks of their own and are a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade away from their 2026 pick looking quite promising.
And, oh yeah, Atlanta used the 23rd pick on forward Asa Newell out of Georgia, who was a good value pick at that spot. His size (six-foot-10, 224 pounds) alone will help a Hawks team that wasn’t the biggest, even if Newell is not the level of prospect Atlanta might’ve gotten at No. 13.
If Atlanta deserves credit for the deal, well, New Orleans deserves criticism.
It’s not to say things can’t work out for the Pelicans, it’s just asking for quite the improvement from a team that won 21 games last season and will most likely already be down one starter in Dejounte Murray, who tore his ACL in February.
All the while, paying what might end up being a top 10 pick in a stronger class for a prospect in Queen, who’s not the cleanest fit in New Orleans, given he and Williamson occupy similar spaces and exacerbate defensive concerns, rightfully has folks scratching their heads.
Dealing for the big out of Maryland in a vacuum wasn’t all that bad, doing it for a future first with no protections is where the gripe comes from.
You know a draft pick is a surprise when the player has to walk out of the crowd after hearing his name called.
Yang was mocked quite unanimously as a second-round selection, so for the Trail Blazers to pick him all the way up at No. 16, it was immediately the biggest surprise of the night.
With an already established frontcourt presence in Portland with DeAndre Ayton and last year’s seventh-overall pick Donovan Clingan, the team opted for a major high-risk, high-reward gamble who can develop slowly.
The 20-year-old impressed at the NBA Draft Combine, his passing instincts and vision at seven-foot-two even garnering the nickname “Chinese Jokic.” But there’s no certainty that, as a ground-bound, post-centric big, his game will effectively translate to the NBA, and there are serious questions of how he’ll survive defensively.
Still, Yang has to be feeling great. Not only is he the third-highest drafted player from China, but he’s also secured a guaranteed-money rookie deal (approx. $21 million, per Spotrac), as opposed to facing the roster/financial uncertainties of being a second-rounder.
Maybe the Nets deserve to be mini-winners simply for making history after selecting a record five players in the first round.
But when you look at what they walked away with after that many kicks at the can, it wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring.
For starters, taking Egor Demin at No. 8 was the first major surprise of the NBA Draft. There’s no doubt that the six-foot-nine table-setter’s tools are intriguing, but given how rough he is around the edges, there was a good shot Demin would’ve been there at No. 19.
And even if that felt risky, with four picks after the eighth spot, consolidating to move back into the top 15 wasn’t an inconceivable idea.
Meanwhile, yes, the Nets struggled to generate quality offence last season (bottom 10 in assists, top 10 in turnovers), but using three of those five picks on point guards, all with overlapping strengths and weaknesses, felt quite redundant.
If even one or two of these guys hit to varying degrees, GM Sean Marks could come out of this looking quite clever. Don’t bet on it, though.
Winner: Victor Wembanyama
While Wemby is busy completing side quests in China, the Spurs have been hard at work adding even more young talent to surround him with.
Coming out of the draft with Dylan Harper, the consensus No. 2 talent in the class, and Carter Bryant, a prototypical 3-and-D player built for today’s NBA, is a great haul and both fit well alongside the Spurs’ cornerstone long-term.
Although the backcourt looks a bit crowded in San Antonio now, that’s a good problem to have, as Harper and the reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle can look to learn from the likes of De’Aaron Fox or even Chris Paul, should he stick around. Meanwhile, Bryant may not have the star upside of some other prospects, but his defence and spacing will make Wembanyama’s life easier, and that’s priority No. 1 for the Spurs.
And with an abundance of young talent on a team itching to be good sooner rather than later, San Antonio can also pivot toward adding a win-now player quite easily.
It was no secret that the Suns were looking to add depth to a frontcourt that only had soon-to-be sophomore Oso Ighodaro and Nick Richards under contract for next season.
So, adding Khaman Maluach at No. 10 was a worthwhile selection, and depending on your big board, a good value pick as well. The seven-footer out of South Sudan was one of the better rim-protecting bigs in the class and is a snug fit in Phoenix.
But the Suns didn’t stop there as they acquired Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets for No. 29 and a 2029 first-rounder. So, to be clear, Phoenix essentially spent three first-round picks to add two centres whose skillsets overlap considerably.
Williams, while productive when available, is also entering the final year of his rookie deal before restricted free agency and has totalled 77 games over three seasons in the NBA.
Paying that price for the oft-injured big, who would’ve been a Laker right now had it not been for a failed physical, seemed a tad rich.
