The 2025 NBA Draft could be wildly unpredictable.
Most mock drafts take a measured approach to predicting the draft outcome. They go pick by pick, assume the vast majority of teams will stay put, and simply slot in the player they believe could be selected -- either based on their understanding of other teams and their boards, or their own personal ranking of players.
Most of the time, that "safe" approach ends up mostly accurate. Yet what it fails to do is capture the possibilities of a more chaotic night unfolding. If one team pulls off a major trade, suddenly everything shifts, and the draft could play out very differently. With the trade market simmering and ready to explode, there is the potential for the 2025 NBA Draft to surprise everyone.
With that in mind, we are unveiling our latest Mock Draft -- but we are doing so in a unique way. Rather than briefly sprint through every selection here, we are going to unpack each pick in a separate post -- giving it time to breathe and to analyze the decision. That keeps this post from being too large and gives you the opportunity to dig into each and every draft selection made.
With the 2025 NBA Draft just days away, it's time to dig into our composite mock draft -- with plenty of surprises and trades incoming. This is an unlikely, but very possible and very exciting potential outcome for draft night.
We start in Dallas, where the Mavericks will be holding onto their pick and turning in their "Get Out Of Jail Free" card they were handed at the NBA Draft Lottery to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg.
The Dallas Mavericks kick things off by drafting the player they have to take in Cooper Flagg. The youngest player in the 2025 NBA Draft is also its best, and he brings elite two-way impact and exceptional intangibles. There are no true weaknesses here; Flagg is a scorer, passer, defender and competitor who fits alongside any combination of teammates. The Mavericks have rescued their future and will be drafting a generational prospect.