Putting together an early season big board is always an interesting exercise. It serves as both a current projection of the NBA talent in this draft class and as a snapshot of how my draft board looks at the beginning of the season – one that can be looked back at over the coming months to see how right and how wrong I was. A lot will change between now and June but some of these early projections will remain about the same throughout the season.
None of the rankings on this board are super far off from consensus. I’m higher on BYU guard Egor Demin than most, seeing him as a potential top 5 pick. The biggest outlier might be my ranking of Kansas big man Flory Bidunga as a first round talent. He’s definitely raw but his physical abilities are off the charts. I’m also higher on Arizona State guard Jason Sanon and Michigan center Danny Wolf than most.
On the international front I’m very intrigued by the development of Bogoljub Markovic and see him as a potential first rounder. The player I’m most torn about is Australian big man Rocco Zikarsky. I see him as a potential top 10 pick but also see a world where he falls to the mid/late first round.
This is a really deep draft class and so cutting this list off at 70 was hard. There are at least a dozen players that I think are draftable and deserve to be on this list. Some players were left off this first big board because I project them to be buried on the depth chart/not getting a lot of playing time this year, and so they might be 2026 prospects instead. One example of this would be Duke guard Darren Harris.
As I mentioned above, a lot will change between now and the draft in June. One thing that always fascinates me is when a player goes from unranked (on these type of early season big boards) to being a first rounder in June. Will there be a player like that this year? Almost certainly. Maybe it’ll be a college upperclassman who takes his conference by storm (Kobe Johnson??) or an international player that rises from relative obscurity over the course of the season (Mitar Bosnjakovic?? Neoklis Avdalas??).
However it all shakes out it’ll be fun to watch.
Early Season Big Board 1.0
- Cooper Flagg – 6-9 – PF – Duke
- Ace Bailey – 6-10 – SF – Rutgers
- Nolan Traore – 6-4 – PG – France
- Egor Demin – 6-9 – PG – BYU (Russia)
- Dylan Harper – 6-5 – PG/SG – Rutgers
- VJ Edgecombe – 6-5 – SG – Baylor (Bahamas)
- Kon Knueppel – 6-6 – SF – Duke
- Noa Essengue – 6-10 – PF – France
- Liam McNeeley – 6-7 – SF – UConn
- Asa Newell – 6-10 – PF – Georgia
- Hugo Gonzalez – 6-6 – SG – Spain
- Will Riley – 6-8 – SG – Illinois
- Tre Johnson – 6-5 – SG – Texas
- Khamam Maluach – 7-1 – C – Duke (South Sudan)
- Rocco Zikarsky – 7-1 – C – Australia
- Alex Karaban – 6-8 – SF – UConn
- Kasparas Jakucionis – 6-5 – PG – Illinois (Lithuania)
- Ben Saraf – 6-6 – PG/SG – Ulm (Israel)
- Drake Powell – 6-7 – SF – North Carolina
- Collin Murray–Boyles – 6-7 – PF – South Carolina
- Dink Pate – 6-7 – PG/SG – Mexico City Capitanes
- Donnie Freeman – 6-9 – PF – Syracuse
- Boogie Fland – 6-3 – PG – Arkansas
- Derik Queen – 6-9 – PF/C – Maryland
- Kwame Evans Jr. – 6-9 – PF – Oregon
- JT Toppin – 6-9 – PF – Texas Tech
- Flory Bidunga – 6-10 – C – Kansas (Congo)
- Joson Sanon – 6-6 – SG – Arizona State
- Kanon Catchings – 6-8 – SF – BYU
- Bogoljub Markovic – 6-10 – SF/PF – Serbia
- Karter Knox – 6-5 – SG – Arkansas
- Mackenzie Mgbako – 6-8 – SF – Indiana
- Michael Ruzic – 6-9 – PF – Croatia
- Carter Bryant – 6-8 – SF – Arizona
- Jalil Bethea – 6-4 – SG – Miami
- KJ Lewis – 6-4 – SG – Arizona
- Saint Thomas – 6-7 – SF – USC
- Alex Toohey – 6-8 – SF – Australia
- Zacharie Perrin – 6-10 – PF – France
- Danny Wolf – 7-0 – C – Michigan
- Dame Sarr – 6-6 – SG – Italy
- Johni Broome – 6-10 – C – Auburn
- Zvonimir Ivisic – 7-3 – C – Arkansas (Croatia)
- Nique Clifford – 6-6 – SF – Colorado State
- Tomislav Ivisic – 7-1 – C – Illinois (Croatia)
- Aiden Sherrell – 6-11 – PF/C – Alabama
- Jamir Watkins – 6-7 – SF – Florida State
- Hunter Sallis – 6-4 – SG – Wake Forest
- Ian Jackson – 6-5 – SG – North Carolina
- Eric Dixon – 6-8 – PF – Villanova
- Kam Jones – 6-4 – SG – Marquette
- Caleb Foster – 6-4 – SG – Duke
- Jase Richardson – 6-4 – SG – Michigan State
- Adama Bal – 6-7 – SG – Santa Clara (France)
- Ryan Kalkbrenner – 7-1 – C – Creighton
- Motiejus Krivas – 7-2 – C – Arizona (Lithuania)
- D.J. Wagner – 6-3 – SG – Arkansas
- Hansen Yang – 7-1 – C – China
- Xavier Booker – 6-11 – C – Michigan State
- Aaron Bradshaw – 7-1 – C – Ohio State
- Tyrese Proctor – 6-4 – PG – Duke (Australia)
- Jarin Stevenson – 6-10 – PF – Alabama
- Malique Lewis – 6-8 – SF/PF – SE Melbourne, NBL (Trinidad and Tobago)
- Josiah Moseley – 6-7 – SF – Villanova
- Matthew Cleveland – 6-7 – SG – Miami
- Labaron Philon – 6-3 – PG – Alabama
- Payton Sandfort – 6-7 – SF – Iowa
- Trevon Brazile – 6-10 – PF – Arkansas
- Noah Penda – 6-8 – PF – France
- Xaivian Lee – 6-3 – PG – Princeton (Canada)
Thanks for reading. Here’s my latest 2025 Mock Draft