Hornets out on Cooper Flagg, will land Big Ten star in 2025 NBA Mock Draft
The 2025 NBA Draft early entry list has been released. While the Charlotte Hornets will be hoping to luck out for Duke's Cooper Flagg, the initial mock draft by The Athletic believes the to pick will go to the Washington Wizards.
"This year's early entry list is much less substantial than what we've seen in the past," according to The Athletic's Sam Vecenie. "Mainly because of the proliferation of the name, image and likeness (NIL) marketplace in college basketball, there are only 106 early entrants to the NBA Draft, a drastically lower number than the 195 who entered last year and the 242 who entered the year before. This peaked in 2021, when 353 early entrants declared for the draft."
Advertisement
Charlotte is projected to land Rutgers Forward Ace Bailey with the No. 5 pick. Most believe this is a stretch with the 6-foot-10 big man being a top three talent.
"He remains quite polarizing and has seemed to have borne the brunt of the blame from NBA personnel for Rutgers' poor season," according to Vecenie. "Yes, he averaged 17.6 points and seven rebounds while shooting 46 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3. But his style of play did not seem wildly conducive to winning basketball. He settles for a lot of long jumpers because he struggles to get all the way to the rim (he has a high handle and high center of gravity that gets knocked off its line a bit too easily). Defensively, he wasn't always particularly engaged in help situations unless he saw an opportunity to go get the basketball.
Related: Former Charlotte Hornets star Alonzo Mourning says routine check-ups saved his life—twice
"And yet, it's worth noting that Rutgers was a catastrophe when he wasn't on the court. Even in Big Ten play, they lost Bailey's minutes by only three points per 100 possessions. When he was off the court, they lost those minutes by 23 points per 100, per CBB Analytics. His presence was clearly helpful, and I think that's what tracks most for me. Bailey is enormous, he's long, he is a real shooter and he showed some defensive moments that were very positive in switch situations. I can't really get him outside of the top five, and I think it would be very reasonable to take him at No. 3. It's just that both Portland and New Orleans in this exercise at No. 3 and No. 4 are loaded with big wings right now."
Advertisement
Related: Hornets' Mark Williams turns heads by trolling Lakers following playoff exit
The Hornets have back-to-back picks in the second round at No. 33 & 34. Vecenie believes UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg and Marquette guard Kam Jones will complete the draft for Charlotte.
The 2025 NBA Draft is on Wednesday, June 25 at 8 p.m. ET.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
44 minutes ago
- USA Today
Boston Celtics jersey history No. 20 - Gary Payton Sr. (2004-05)
Boston Celtics jersey history No. 20 - Gary Payton Sr. (2004-05) The Boston Celtics have had players suiting up in a total of 68 different jersey numbers (and have three others not part of any numerical series) since their founding at the dawn of the Basketball Association of America (BAA -- the league that would become today's NBA), worn by well over 500 players in the course of Celtics history. To commemorate the players who wore those numbers, Celtics Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team. With 25 of those jerseys now retired to honor some of the greatest Celtics to wear those jerseys, there is a lot of history to cover. And for today's article, we will continue with the 25th of 31 people to wear the No. 20 jersey, Hall of Fame Boston guard alum Gary Payton Sr. After ending his college career at Oregon State, Payton was picked up with the second overall selection of the 1990 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. The Oakland, California native would also have stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers before he was dealt to Boston in 2004. His stay with the team would span a single a season before he was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks in 2005. During his time suiting up for the Celtics, Payton wore only jersey No. 20 and put up 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
NBC Sports
an hour ago
- NBC Sports
Pacers vs. Thunder Game 2 Predictions: Odds, expert picks, recent stats, trends and best bets for June 8
On Sunday, June 8, the Indiana Pacers (50-32) and Oklahoma City Thunder (68-14) are all set to square off from Paycom Center in Oklahoma City for Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Indiana continued its miraculous playoff run with another fourth-quarter rally to steal a Game 1. Tyrese Haliburton hit his fourth Game 1 game-winner with a two-point jump shot over Cason Wallace with 0.3 seconds remaining to win 111-110. Haliburton (14 points, 10 rebounds) and the Pacers overcame Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's game-high 38 points and multiple double-digit leads throughout. The Thunder entered the fourth quarter with a 9-point lead and ended the game efficiently in many areas, including free-throws (21-of-24) and turnovers (6). Both teams won all three of their Game 2's this postseason and went 3-0 against the spread. We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts. Listen to the Rotoworld Basketball Show for the latest fantasy player news, waiver claims, roster advice and more from our experts all season long. Click here or download it wherever you get your podcasts. Game details & how to watch Pacers vs. Thunder live today Date: Sunday, June 8, 2025 Time: 8:00PM EST Site: Paycom Center City: Oklahoma City, OK Network/Streaming: ESPN / ABC Never miss a second of the action and stay up to date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day NBA schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game. Game odds for Pacers vs. Thunder The latest odds as of Sunday: Odds: Pacers(+390), Thunder (-520) Spread: Thunder -11 Over/Under: 228.5 points That gives the Pacers an implied team point total of 108.5, and the Thunder 120.5. Want to know which sportsbook is offering the best lines for every game on the NBA calendar? Check out the NBC Sports' Live Odds tool to get all the latest updated info from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM & more! Expert picks & predictions for Sunday's Pacers vs. Thunder game Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700. Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals. Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager. Here are the best bets our model is projecting for today's Pacers & Thunder game: Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline. Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Indiana Pacers at +11 Total: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Game Total of 228.5 Want even more NBA best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert NBA Predictions pagefrom NBC Sports for money line, spread and over/under picks for every game on today's calendar! Important stats, trends & insights to know ahead of Pacers vs. Thunder on Sunday Indiana is 3-0 ATS and on the ML in Game 2's of the playoffs Oklahoma City is 3-0 ATS and on the ML in Game 2's of the playoffs Pascal Siakam (19 points, 10 rebounds), Aaron Nesmith (10 points, 12 rebounds), and Tyrese Haliburton (14 points, 10 rebounds) double-doubled in Game 1 for Indiana Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 38 points in Game 1 Jalen Williams and Tyrese Haliburton are tied for the series lead in assists with 6 If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our NBA Top Trends tool on NBC Sports! Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff: - Jay Croucher (@croucherJD) - Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper) - Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports) - Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Penn State's latest European import brings needed versatility to basketball roster
Penn State's latest European import brings needed versatility to basketball roster Penn State adds versatile European import to basketball roster Penn State men's basketball head coach Mike Rhoades has been busy trying to fill out his roster for the upcoming college basketball season. On Friday, he officially added a European import with the signing of Melih Tunca from Turkey. Tunca is a six-foot guard who is regarded as one of the top professional players in Turkey. He is coming off a 2024-25 season in which he was named the Young Player of the Regular Season with Turk Telekom in the Turkish Basketball Super League. He averaged 6.7 points per game and 2.2 assists per game in 30 games played last season. "Melih is a versatile guard we are excited to have in our family,: Rhoades said in a released statement on Friday. "He has size and length that we love, with the ability to make plays and shots. Melih really fits our style of play on both ends. " Rhoades will hope to rely on Tunca's versatility and experience as he puts together a roster with a number of holes to fill after some roster turnover from last season. Penn State is set to welcome six freshmen to the roster this season in addition to some transfer additions like Josh Reed from Cincinnati. "His vast international playing experience will have him ready to impact our program,' Rhoades said of Tunca. It will certainly be needed. Penn State is coming off a 16-15 season that ended without a postseason tournament appearance. The Nittany Lions went just 6-14 in Big Ten play and failed to be included in the Big Ten men's basketball tournament.
