NBA Draft 2025 live updates: Start time, latest mock draft, predictions, news and analysis – The New York Times

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The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft takes place today.
There will be two rounds and 59 picks in this year’s event, which takes place at Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets. Duke’s Cooper Flagg is the heavy favorite to be selected with the first overall pick, which the Dallas Mavericks currently hold.
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Owen S: “I watched Flagg closely in his lone season at Duke, and the kid is a stone-cold killer. I suspect he will be a great pro, and maybe even a transcendent one. But time will tell. Not only is he a gifted athlete, but he also has a very high basketball IQ. Plus, he's eager to learn and takes criticism well. That's a winning combination.”
Ryan O: “Looking forward to seeing this dude shine at the next level…he plays so beyond his years.”
Jacob F: “I'm excited to see Flagg in the NBA. Seems like he’s ready to crush it as both a player and as a person. I wonder though whether Dallas is the right home for him. Does a team so poorly managed have the culture and leadership to launch him into a potentially stratospheric career? Him and his team seemed psyched that he’s going to Dallas. But, of course, that’s the tone they are going to take publicly. I wonder what the inside view is. Will Flagg be a lifelong Maverick? I have trouble seeing it.”
Get involved by emailing live@theathletic.com.
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The 2025 NBA Draft class as a whole is a fascinating one for myriad reasons. Last year, I did not have a player ranked in my top two tiers of prospects, tiers reserved for players I have a degree of confidence projecting will become at least an All-Star caliber player. This season, I have one Tier One and one Tier Two player.
Cooper Flagg is, unsurprisingly, the No. 1-ranked player, and he has the second-highest grade I’ve given out to a prospect in the last decade, behind only Victor Wembanyama. Flagg has a tremendous blend of ceiling and floor. His skill level, improvement as a shooter, defense and overall competitiveness make him about as safe a prospect as you can find. However, he also has some very high-end potential outcomes that could result in him turning into a top-five player in the league.
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Cooper Flagg is obviously the best prospect on the board. That doesn’t guarantee he’ll have the best career – stuff happens! – but anybody who says he shouldn’t go No. 1 is an unserious goofball.
Flagg was quite nearly the youngest player in college basketball this year, with a December 2006 birthdate (he would’ve been draft-ineligible until 2026 if he were born 11 days later) and yet was also the best player by a considerable margin. He won every major award, led the NCAA in BPM and led all non-centers in PER. He’s a multi-position player on both ends, one who had extremely high rates of assists and steals for a player of his size and drew fouls at a gargantuan rate. For a guy whose shooting was a question mark, he also shot 38.5 percent from 3 and 84.0 percent from the line.
Nitpickers will point out a 51.8 percent shooting mark on 2s and a proclivity for spinning into traffic rather than getting all the way to the cup on a straight line. His in-between game and post-ups still need work. Whatever. Flagg’s medium-case scenario is a day-one starter who becomes an All-Star by the end of his rookie contract. The best-case scenario is special.
So who will be selected with those picks?
Well, Cooper Flagg is a virtual lock to go No. 1, as he was even before his star freshman season at Duke. And Rutgers star Dylan Harper, son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, seems likely to go No. 2 to San Antonio after Dallas takes Flagg first overall.
After that… things get cloudy. Luckily, our NBA Draft expert Sam Vecenie is here to sift through the latest rumors and smokescreens with the draft just hours away.
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There’s still plenty of time until the 2025 NBA Draft and we would love to hear from you.
Get involved by emailing live@theathletic.com.
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The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft will air on ABC and ESPN.
You can also stream the draft on fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream, or YouTube TV. You can try fuboTV for free by clicking this link.
Live coverage of the second round will be aired exclusively on ESPN.
The 2025 NBA Draft will start today at 8pm EDT.
The second round will start at the same time on Thursday.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 2025 NBA Draft, which takes place today and tomorrow from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg is the heavy favorite to be selected with the first overall pick, which the Dallas Mavericks currently hold.
Stick with us as we begin counting down to tonight’s Draft and don’t forget that you can get involved by emailing live@theathletic.com.

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