2025 NBA Draft Lottery Preview: Brooklyn Nets

Nathan Grubel and Nick Agar-Johnson continue the No Ceilings 2025 NBA Draft Lottery Preview series, with today's edition covering the Brooklyn Nets and the #8 overall pick.

Nick: The Brooklyn Nets are approaching a pivot point with the 2025 NBA Draft getting closer. They currently have a ridiculous amount of draft capital invested in this year; they have the #8 pick, but they also have the 19th, 26th, 27th, and 36th picks in the draft. While the odds are good that they will trade at least some of that draft capital, especially if the rumors around them going after Giannis Antetokounmpo end up bearing fruit (though that appears less likely after recent news that he will probably remain in Milwaukee), it feels safe to say that this team will look drastically different next season. Cam Thomas, Ziaire Williams, and Day’Ron Sharpe are restricted free agents, while D’Angelo Russell will hit the open market; it seems likely that at least a few of them aren’t coming back, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Sharpe is the only one of those players who remains a Brooklyn Net next season.

The Nets closed out the year on a low note due to injury/tanking concerns, but first-year head coach Jordi Fernandez got a lot more than expected out of this group. That was particularly true on the defensive end; while their close to the season dropped them down to 20th in Defensive Rating, Brooklyn ground out some really impressive defensive wins in the middle of the season.

The Nets are obviously not pleased that they ended up dropping this far in the lottery, but there will be plenty of players available with the eighth overall pick who could either accelerate their rebuild or fit alongside a star if they do end up making a trade for Giannis or another disgruntled superstar. They could opt to invest even more in their emerging defensive identity, or they could look for an offensive tentpole–especially if Cam Thomas ends up elsewhere after restricted free agency.

Nathan, what are your thoughts on potential directions that the Nets could go in with the #8 pick?

Nathan: When I look at where the Nets are, this organization has as many wide-open doors as possible for a franchise. The draft assets are there, the roster is essentially a clean slate given the number of players facing unrestricted or restricted free agency, and the front office and coaching staff appear to be aligned; whichever direction is selected, both parties will work with one another to make the most of it.

I don’t get the sense that the Nets would make a massive swing for a star despite some of the rumors. This franchise did that once already in recent memory, and that plan completely backfired despite prior momentum that was building behind a young core with a great developmental coach in Kenny Atkinson. Jordi Fernandez appears to be ready to foster a culture and develop a new nucleus.

With that in mind, it’s clear as day that with the 8th pick in the draft, the Nets should swing for the fences in terms of trying to find a star to build around, or someone that’s good enough to be a legitimate complement to another star that could be brought in. That’s always the name of the game in the lottery for as long as it can be, but for Brooklyn, it’s especially true given the lack of clear direction at the top of the roster.

Both Khaman Maluach and Derik Queen have been popular names in our discussions at No Ceilings for Brooklyn based on how the board is projected to break. Kon Knueppel is another player who may be available, depending on any trades for teams moving up for certain guys higher in the lottery.

If I were looking at this situation for the Nets, outside of those mentioned players, I would have some clear targets that present a high degree of upside with justifiable risk as potential primary creators: Egor Demin, Jeremiah Fears, and Noa Essengue.

The latter has generated a massive amount of buzz in NBA draft circles given Ulm’s performance in the playoffs overseas. He’s the only prospect who is still actually playing, and recency bias has generally helped prospects closer to the draft if they’re performing well. Essengue has looked the best he has all season in recent weeks, showcasing the type of athletic skill set that can create possessions and limit them on the defensive end. He’s a rangy forward who can create deflections, handle the ball in transition, and hunt for rebounding opportunities like crazy. Should his ball-handling skill improve in halfcourt settings, along with his jumper continuing to evolve off the dribble, that’s the type of player who could blossom into a star within a few years, along with his continued physical development.

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2025 NBA Draft Guide Available Now

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Demin has been linked to the Nets for a few weeks now, and the idea of him makes sense for a team like the Nets. As I mentioned, the roster is as clean a slate as it can be. Brooklyn has the freedom to pick and choose the players it wants back in the fold alongside its new draft picks. With a player like Demin, he’s not pigeonholed into a specific position. He has spoken in interviews like a pure point guard, but his size and length at 6’9” could allow him to slide off the ball in a secondary role and play alongside other high-usage creators. His vision is among the best in the class, and he’s willing to get the ball where it needs to go both in the halfcourt and in transition. His shooting has reportedly been excellent in workouts, and Demin should continue to improve defensively as he physically matures.

Fears is the most fascinating name to me, and I’m curious to get your thoughts on his potential fit, Nick. If you’re drafting Fears, you’re buying into his upside as a player who is going to have the ball in his hands more often than not. He took on an incredible offensive burden at Oklahoma; despite a number of warts in his game I find troubling, he still produced at a level that was amongst the best in his class, which includes surefire lottery picks Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper. There were games where he failed to stand out within the offense and found himself in foul trouble defensively. But there were other moments during Oklahoma’s scorching start to the season, and in postseason action, where Fears looked unstoppable driving to the basket and scoring/distributing at will. Can Fears thrive alongside a player like Cam Thomas? Is he the best choice for pulling all of the levers for Brooklyn’s offense? I’m still skeptical, but this is a fit that could make sense to me. What say you about Fears, NIck? Which of these other options stand out to you as targets, and would you be as concerned with taking an upside swing at #8 vs. just bringing in a player you’re confident will be a rotational contributor one way or the other?

Nick: I think that Fears would be a fascinating swing for Brooklyn to take, for sure. He has one of the better cases as a future superstar of anyone who is likely to be available for Brooklyn with the 8th pick. At his best, his ability to attack downhill and either score himself or dish out opportunities for his teammates merited being drafted higher than 8th, and his best moments happened quite frequently early in the season. I totally see the vision with him, but I do have a few concerns with his specific fit with Brooklyn that would lead me to looking at other options before Fears for the Nets. First of all, I worry about his ability to hold up in the Brooklyn backcourt both with and without Cam Thomas. The fit with Thomas is easy to see offensively, given Thomas’s shooting touch and one-on-one scoring gravity along with vastly improved passing; however, I worry about the clash with Brooklyn’s emerging defensive identity and a vastly undersized and defensively-troubled backcourt of Fears and Thomas. Without Thomas, I would worry about Fears’s ability to run an offense without putting much pressure on the defense from beyond the arc, given Fears’s struggles to hit shots.

With that in mind, I would personally prefer a few of the other players you mentioned if I were the Nets. I’ll start with Derik Queen, who is not only the highest player on my board of the prospects you mentioned, but also is someone who I think makes a ton of sense for Brooklyn. His ability to create looks down low both for himself and others on offense is special. While he will have defensive questions in terms of his position, I think that Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe are well-equipped to make up for Queen’s relative lack of rim protection and allow his quick hands and preternatural reading of passing lanes to be a contributor on that end. The fit is less clean without Claxton, and the rumblings for years now around Claxton may soon lead to him being on another team, but I buy Queen’s scoring and passing in the short term—with the potential to expand his shot long-term.

Kon Knueppel is right behind Queen on my board, but I think he’s more likely than Queen to be off the board by the #8 pick with the way things are currently shaking out. I think that Demin and Essengue are intriguing suggestions for Brooklyn, and Demin in particular could be someone the Nets look at as a playmaker on offense with the potential to grow into a versatile defender over time who can fit into a variety of different contexts. Maluach could certainly make sense as a high-upside type of pick, but I would prefer any of the three of Queen, Demin, or Fears given their potential on-ball upside.

There’s one other name I want to toss back your way before we close this out. In a similar vein to Queen, Demin, and Fears, I wanted to go with a prospect who is mainly an on-ball player who had great success as a playmaker for others and exceptional success as a finisher around the basket, finishing 65% of his shots at the rim on high volume, per Synergy. His draft stock faded as the season progressed, but he did shoot better from long range than Fears; he also has the size to be less of a target than Fears might become, which would portend a better fit than Fears with Thomas or another backcourt partner.

Does Kasparas Jakucionis make sense for the Nets?

To be clear, I would run to the podium for Queen or Knueppel if they were available; those two would be my top targets for the Nets. Since I’m not sure that they’ll be available, though, I wanted to bring up Jakucionis as well, as an alternative to Demin or Fears.

We should also briefly talk about some other draft candidates for Brooklyn, given their abundance of picks. I have stubbornly maintained my belief in Nolan Traore as a lottery-level prospect all season long, and I think that he would be a great fit for the Nets at #19 if Brooklyn goes with a non-guard with the #8 pick. I also think that Rasheer Fleming or Nique Clifford would be excellent players who could contribute regardless of who remains on the roster for the Nets, and one or both of them might be available at #19. For the 26th, 27th, and 36th picks, I have a few of my favorite late first round targets in mind. Koby Brea and Walter Clayton Jr. would both provide exceptional shooting and great understanding of the game to Brooklyn and should be able to play sooner rather than later. They would both make great selections in my mind at 26 or 27. Ryan Kalkbrenner is someone who I have on the borderline of the first round and the second round in this draft as someone who I’m confident can have a long career as an efficient scorer and drop defending backup center; he could be a great pickup for the Nets at #36 if they believe in Sharpe enough to make him the starter following a presumed Claxton trade.

What about you, Nathan? What do you think about Jakucionis, and who would be some of your prime targets for Brooklyn’s overload of picks after #8 in the 2025 NBA Draft?

Nathan: The beauty of having a clean slate to work with and multiple first round picks is the number of directions the Nets can go, as we’ve both said. Kasparas Jakucionis has plenty of fans at No Ceilings; even though I’ve cooled on him a tad, I could see an argument to be made for him as high as #8, depending on how the draft board falls before the team’s selection.

Jakucionis is much more known for his playmaking, as he’s able to slice through defenses in pick-and-roll, and properly dissect the correct play to make. His vision, timing, and use of ball screens can elevate any offense. He had some moments where the shooting/scoring didn’t fully pan out from an efficiency standpoint, but I do buy his three-point shot long term. Jakucionis is certainly someone defenses have to respect in ball screen actions. To your point, he would fit nicely alongside a dynamic scoring specialist like Cam Thomas.

Two other things I would want to leave this draft with if I were the Nets would be a legitimate, legitimate shooter on the perimeter, and an experienced college big man that could fill in any gaps in the rotation either off the bench or higher in the rotation depending on the fates of Claxton and Sharpe. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Walter Clayton Jr. are great names by you. I’m about as high as one can be on Clayton as a guard prospect because he can play with virtually anyone else in the backcourt. He got valuable reps as a point guard at Florida, and helped to lead that team to a national championship. He’s as dynamic of a shooter in this draft class, and still has an argument for the best shooter right up there with Kon Knueppel, Tre Johnson, and Koby Brea. He would bring a level of maturity to the locker room as well, something that should be valued more often—even from younger players, as modeled by a team in the NBA Finals right now in the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It wouldn’t shock me to see Kalkbrenner potentially off the board even before Brooklyn’s late first-round selections. Seven-footers who can not only block shots, but deter drivers from entering the lane are incredibly valuable in today’s NBA, where paint touches often lead to wide-open threes off a single kick-out pass or off a swing pass stemming from a hockey assist off a look from the paint. He’s improved as a three-point shooter on low volume, and he has operated in different handoff schemes at Creighton. He’s not the type of bouncy, athletic center who can do everything himself off the dribble, but he’s produced every single season in college and has continued to enhance his game. Kalkbrenner is the type of player who could find himself in the league for over a decade.

Given those lines of thinking, the Nets should also have eyes on Jase Richardson if he’s available with any of 19, 26, or 27. While there are some clear concerns about how Richardson will fare physically in the NBA, he’s a skilled scorer once he gets downhill. His game is very reminiscent of Brandin Podziemski, and even though he doesn’t have those same measrurables, their styles of play are so similar to the point where I can see Jase evolve into a starting-level option in the backcourt.

As far as other big men go, Asa Newell and Thomas Sorber could be in consideration depending on whether the team goes with a big man in the lottery. Each player has their own strengths, but they offer levels of upside given their defensive identities around the basket and playmaking potential down the line. Newell projects to shoot it quicker than Sorber, but I’m much more keen on Sorber as a handoff big and passer around the elbows at this stage in his career. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in Brooklyn to hear the front office personnel discuss each player.

One more name should the Nets look for a bigger forward with two-way upside: Noah Penda. Penda absolutely has to shoot the basketball to return the type of value that many scouts believe he has as a potential first round pick, but he’s a rock-solid defender who is physically ready to handle the demands of guarding some of the better wings and forwards in the league. He’s a disruptive defensive playmaker, strong rebounder, and he can handle the ball in transition and make reads on the break. Given the likelihood that the Nets won’t be competing deep into the Eastern Conference playoffs within the next few seasons, this would give a player like Penda time to develop his offensive skill set while retaining and enhancing a lot of the defensive attributes that are crucial for winning playoff games in the league.

Will Brooklyn make all of their first round selections? Could multiple picks end up in trades? Is this a team that’s determined to bring in a ton of young upside swings, or mix in some experienced college veterans looking for some instant rotational impact? I will have my eyes on the Nets all night during the 2025 NBA Draft, and Nick, I know you will too.