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Freshmen Dominate NBA Draft

Over the years the NBA Draft has turned very trendy. Back in the day it was reserved for the top seniors coming out of college, usually big men were the top prize. Then came a time when college players were allowed to leave early after their junior year, and guys like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson took center stage.

Then the one and done era began with players opting to leave after their freshmen year. Many were busts. In later years, teams found young players overseas who had superior fundamental skills and selected them at top of the draft. Now, we have come back to players who have played only one year of college basketball sought to be the main prize, but never like this.

In the 2025 rendition of the draft, 18 freshmen were selected in the first round. A record number of young players being chosen over older players. In even a more bizarre move was each of first eight picks were outgoing freshmen.

Cooper Flagg from Duke was the top pick going to the Dallas Mavericks. He was then followed by seven more freshmen college players. None that had the type of year he had or the hype.

One of the bigger stories coming out of the draft was Utah selecting Ace Bailey from Rutgers, another freshman. Bailey's representatives informed a team drafting inside the top five that they didn't want that team to select him and that he wouldn't report if it did. Utah had the #5 pick. They declined to buy into the fear that Bailey was trying to dictate his destination and opted for the best-player-available approach.

The SEC had five first-round picks, including three lottery picks: Texas’ Tre Johnson (No. 6), Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears (No. 7), South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles (No. 9), Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., (No. 18) and Georgia’s Asa Newell (No. 23). Murray-Boyles is the Gamecocks’ first lottery pick in school history. However, one school who did not have a players selected in the first round was Kentucky. It was the first time since 2009.

Another surprising element was the lack of respect for several older players who were consensus All-Americans or possible Player of the Year Candidates. Auburn's Johni Broome was considered one of the top players in the country and slid to the second round. Philadelphia finally selected him with the 35th pick.

Others who slipped to the second round were Saint Joseph's forward Rasheer Fleming, Stanford center Maxime Raynaud and center Ryan Kalkbrenner from Creighton.

Only time will tell how it all plays out but it was definitely a record breaking and somewhat surprising draft.