We were promised NBA Draft surprises — here's what happened instead
The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is in the books.
It went as expected. It went in ways that no one saw coming. It went as every draft does, with every team leaving Barclays Center believing it is better than it was that morning (check out the first-round grades from The Post's Zach Braziller).
Here are the takeaways from draft Night 1 in Brooklyn:
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CBS News
22 minutes ago
- CBS News
Best players available for Celtics early in the second round of NBA Draft
Brad Stevens on why the Celtics selected Hugo Gonzalez at No. 28 in NBA Draft Brad Stevens on why the Celtics selected Hugo Gonzalez at No. 28 in NBA Draft Brad Stevens on why the Celtics selected Hugo Gonzalez at No. 28 in NBA Draft After waiting nearly all night Wednesday to make their first selection in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics won't have to wait long to make a pick Thursday night. Boston owns the second pick in Round 2, giving Brad Stevens an opportunity to add one of the best players still available. The Celtics took Hugo Gonzalez with the 28th pick Wednesday night, an athletic but raw 19-year-old wing who was a role player for Real Madrid last season. Boston will likely go with a big man Thursday at No. 32, following the reported trade of Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta and with Al Horford and Luke Kornet both free agents this summer. Here are the best players still on the board for the Celtics heading into Round 2 of the NBA Draft. Maxime Raynaud, C, Stanford Raynaud is a seven-footer who possesses a guard-like skillet. He averaged 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds for the Cardinals last season, and was a unanimous First-Team All-ACC selection -- an honor he shared with No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. Raynaud is from Paris, France and didn't start playing basketball until his senior year of high school. He was initially a walk-on at Stanford, but was a starter by his sophomore year. Over his four-year college career, Raynaud averaged 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds. He shot 51 percent overall and 34.7 percent from three-point range on 2.5 attempts per game. His three-point attempts jumped up to 5.5 per game as a senior. Ryan Kalkbrenner, C, Creighton Kalkbrenner played five seasons for the Bluejays and is one of the older prospects at 23, but he can really bring it on both ends of the floor. He's got a massive wingspan at 7-foot-6 and used it well, averaging 2.4 blocks over his college career. He led the Big East in blocks per game in each of the last three seasons, and was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for four straight years from 2022-25. Kalkbrenner averaged a career-best 19.2 points off 65.3 percent shooting and 8.7 rebounds per game last season, and averaged 14.5 points and 6.8 rebounds over his five years at Creighton. Rasheer Fleming, F, St. Joe's If the C's want to go the power forward route, Fleming could be Stevens' guy after he averaged a career-best 14.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in his junior season. He also upped his three-point percentage to 39 percent. Defensively, Fleming has a 7-foot-5 wingspan and averaged 1.3 blocks last season. But the 20-year-old could be the first player off the board Thursday night, with the Minnesota Timberwolves possessing the first pick of Round 2. Noah Penda, F, France Like Raynaud, Penda can do a bit of everything from dribbling to passing to playing some strong defense. He's an extremely switchable 6-foot-7 wing who checks in at 245 pounds. The 20-year-old played in 29 games for Le Mans in LNB Elite -- France's top league -- and averaged 10.2 points off 44 percent shooting overall (only 30.4 percent from downtown though) to go with 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and a team-best 1.3 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. Adou Thiero, F, Arkansas A 6-foot-6, 218-pound forward, Thiero is super athletic and already a solid defender. He has a seven-foot wingspan and averaged 15.1 points and 5.8 rebounds as the top option on the Razorbacks last year as a junior. Thiero spent his first two college seasons at Kentucky, before he followed John Calipari to Arkansas last year. Kameron Jones, G, Marquette Stevens could opt to add another guard to the mix after reportedly sending veteran Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers. Jones started for the Golden Eagles in three of his four years at Marquette, and earned All-American Second Team honors last season after averaging 19.2 points, 5.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game. The 6-foot-4 guard was a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award last season.
23 minutes ago
Fleming, Raynaud, Penda headline the list of best available players entering Round 2 of NBA draft
Freshmen dominated the first round of the NBA draft. That squeezed out some veteran college big men. St. Joseph's junior Rasheer Fleming, Stanford senior Maxime Raynaud, and fifth-year seniors in Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner and Auburn's Johni Broome are among those waiting to hear their name called entering the second round. Bigs made up eight of the 30 first-round picks, with 18 freshmen and six international prospects taking up most of the slots. Here's a look at top prospects available when the two-day format resumes with Minnesota on the clock Thursday night: The 6-foot-8, 232-pound junior is coming off a productive season that included averaging 14.7 points, 8.5 rebounds for career-best outputs. He tied for fourth at the combine with a better than 7-5 wingspan, helping him average 1.5 blocks over the last two seasons. He also proved he could stretch his range, going from shooting 31.3% on 3-pointers in his first two college seasons to 39% last year. Notably, he performed well in catch-and-shoot situations (in the 79th percentile) and finishing at the rim (89th percentile), according to Synergy's analytics data. The 7-footer from France is a skilled a skilled 7-footer who averaged 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds, putting himself alongside eventual No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg of Duke as the only unanimous first-team picks on The Associated Press' All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team. He has a rangy skillset. He rated in Synergy's 78th percentile in converting on post-up chances, shooting 50.7% in those scenarios, while the 84th percentile for spot-up shooting. That showed in him making 67 3-pointers in 35 games last year. The 6-8, 225-pound forward offers inside-out versatility and defensive potential. The 20-year-old averaged 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33 games last year in France's top league, rating as 'very good' by Synergy in halfcourt settings. Penda also led the team in steals (1.3) and blocks (0.9), and showed playmaking ability with his nifty passing. The 7-1, 257 pound player has long been a productive post presence, averaging 14.5 points and 2.4 blocks while shooting 65.8% through five college seasons. He shot 58.5% in post-up situations to rank in Synergy's 87th percentile, and made 37 3-pointers in the last two years to show ability to step outside. The AP third-team All-American started last season with 49 points in a game last year (second-most in Division I), and he had the combine's second-longest wingspan (7-6). The 6-3, 202-pound senior was an AP second-team All-American last year who averaged 19.2 points and 5.9 assists in a bigger role. He was particularly good as the ball handler in the pick-and-roll, shooting 50.8% in those situations to rank in Synergy's 85th percentile while also performing well in finishing at the rim and in spot-up chances. The four-year veteran missed two career games and was a finalist last year for the Cousy Award presented to the nation's top point guard. Broome offers an example of how elite college production doesn't always equate to NBA potential. The 6-9, 249-pound big man was a first-team AP All-American averaging 18.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks for a Final Four team, part of an impressive rise from starting his five-year career at Morehead State. Yet Broome plays below the rim and lacks elite athleticism, tying for the combine's second-lowest max vertical leap (28.0). Synergy ranked his jumper as 'below average," raising uncertainty about his ability to stretch defenses (27.8% on 3s last year) and create space. —ADOU THIERO: The 6-6, 218-pound forward from Arkansas averaged 15.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in a leading role as a junior with the Razorbacks under John Calipari, coming after spending two years under Calipari at Kentucky. The versatile athlete has a 7-foot wingspan. —TYRESE PROCTOR: The 6-4, 183-pound junior from Duke can play on or off the ball while bringing defense and outside shooting. Last year he averaged 12.4 points and 40.5% shooting on 3s, though he struggled in each of the Blue Devils' season-ending losses in the 2024 Elite Eight and 2025 Final Four (2 for 17 shooting in those games). —JOHN TONJE: The 6-5, 212 pound guard is coming off a sixth college season in a career that began with four seasons at Colorado state, one injury-shortened season at Missouri and finally a big year with Wisconsin. Tonje was an AP second-team All-American last year and shot well on 3s (37.8%) and free throws (85.8%) in 167 college games. —JAMIR WATKINS: The 6-5, 215-pound guard proved to be a reliable scorer in two seasons with Florida State, averaging 17.0 points in 65 games. He spent two seasons and a redshirt year at VCU. —BOGOLJUB MARKOVIC: The 6-11, 190-pound big played last year for Mega Basket in his home country of Serbia. He'll need bulk on a lean frame but he offers intriguing perimeter skills and 3-point range.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ESPN Makes 'Embarrassing' Cooper Flagg Mistake At NBA Draft
ESPN Makes 'Embarrassing' Cooper Flagg Mistake At NBA Draft originally appeared on The Spun. ESPN is taking heat for making an "embarrassing" Cooper Flagg mistake at the 2025 NBA Draft. Advertisement Flagg, the National Player of the Year at Duke, went No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening. He'll join Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson in Dallas. Flagg, who is from Maine, was one-and-done at Duke. The former Duke Blue Devils standout went viral on X, formerly known as Twitter, thanks to an "embarrassing" mistake from ESPN's broadcast. ESPN is taking heat on social media for its rough Cooper Flagg mistake. The mistake is going viral on X, formerly known as Twitter. Cooper Flagg going No. 1 overall.© Brad Penner-Imagn Images Flagg was falsely identified by ESPN during the middle of the broadcast. Advertisement 'Welcome back to SportsCenter. You're looking at Cooper Flagg…That is not Cooper Flagg at all, actually," ESPN admitted live on the air. Fans were quick to take note. "ESPN had a hard time finding Cooper Flagg on the red carpet before the NBA Draft," one fan wrote. "This is actually amazing announcing I won't even lie," one fan added. "Rough moment for ESPN," one fan added. Flagg, meanwhile, went No. 1 overall to the Dallas Mavericks a couple of minutes later. The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is airing live on ABC. ESPN Makes 'Embarrassing' Cooper Flagg Mistake At NBA Draft first appeared on The Spun on Jun 26, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.
