The Brooklyn Nets are locked into the sixth-best odds in the 2025 NBA Draft lottery, which takes place in two weeks.
B.J. Johnson, Brooklyn’s assistant general manager who will run the team’s draft process, will be looking at a wide range of prospects. That ‘tier’ of the draft, so to speak, features plenty of names with minute details separating them. If the Nets stay in that No. 6 spot, targets could include Texas guard Tre Johnson, Duke guard Kon Knueppel, Duke big Khaman Maluach, Oklahoma point guard Jeremiah Fears, Illinois point guard Kasparas Jakucionis, Maryland forward Derik Queen or South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles.
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Johnson is the current No. 6 prospect on ESPN’s top 100 big board. He averaged 19.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a freshman. Johnson can be seen similarly to Cam Thomas or Tyler Herro. The 19-year-old will get buckets, hitting tough shots off the bounce and over defenders, but he needs to leverage his scoring into passing and be a passable defender.
Knueppel is another elite shotmaker, although he hasn’t proven himself off the bounce like Johnson. The Duke freshman went 19-for-58 on off-the-dribble jumpers this season, per Synergy. Instead, he’ll thrive on catch-and-shoot looks (43.3 3P% on 81-for-201 shooting) while adding value in the pick-and-roll. Knueppel is a below average athlete, but he’s stocky and crafty. He developed great chemistry with Khaman Maluach this season.
Maluach, the first-year Duke center, declared for the draft before Saturday’s 11:59 PM ET deadline. He averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.8 turnovers and 1.3 blocks per game, while shooting 71.2% from the field, 75.4% from two, 25% from three, and 76.6% from the free throw line. Those numbers aren’t gaudy, but they understate Maluach’s role on a very good Blue Devils team. On defense, he wasn’t getting many stats, but he was getting stops through his positioning and size. The South Sudanese prospect is a pick-and-roll play finisher (77.6% at the rim on 156 field goals and 80 made dunks) with more on-ball flashes at previous levels.
Fears, who is working out in New York City ahead of the draft, also excels in the pick-and-roll. Unlike Maluach, it’s as a ballhandler. The Sooners point guard can drive, shoot and playmake out of screens. Fears reclassified to play as a freshman this season at Oklahoma. He excelled on high usage in terms of pure production, but his overall efficiency was improvable. Still, Fears profiles as a potential offensive engine or as a guard that can also fit off-ball next to other high volume playmakers.
Jakucionis is one of those high volume playmakers. The Illinois freshman averaged 15 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in his first season stateside after making the move from FC Barcelona in Spain. Jakucionis loves to pass and shoot out of the pick-and-roll. He’ll take up the ball for long stretches and score, assist or get to the free throw line in creative ways. However, the Lithuanian prospect is also propense to turnovers, often avoidable ones, and he doesn’t have two-way value.
Murray-Boyles is an undersized big who might be more of a forward in the NBA. He’s around 6-foot-8, but has long arms, good pop, great strength and functional feel. Murray-Boyles creates advantages on the short roll, out of post-ups or off the dribble. His South Carolina team, frankly, lacked NBA talent. If the Nets honed in on Murray-Boyles, it would be interesting for head coach Jordi Fernández to think about using him similarly to Ben Simmons this season. Murray-Boyles can act as a hub in the half-court with hand-offs around the elbows or above the break, and he should also be able to push the ball in transition while guarding multiple positions.
For those watching the playoffs, Queen can be compared to Alperen Sengun. The Maryland prospect is a 6-foot-10 playmaker who posts and faces up, puts the ball on the floor and generally just makes winning plays. He averaged 16.5 points, nine rebounds and 1.9 assists this season. The knocks on Queen are that he doesn’t shoot threes right now (7-for-35 this season) despite showing soft touch, can monopolize an offense (26.6 USG%) and has significant athletic questions as a positional defender. He is also an older freshman, having turned 20 in December.
The draft lottery is on May 12. Other names who entered the draft before the declaration deadline date are Arizona freshman Carter Bryant, Cedevita and France big Joan Beringer, Reggio Emilia and Senegal big Momo Faye and Saint-Quentin and France point guard Nolan Traoré.
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Wilko is a journalist and producer from Madrid, Spain. He is also the founder of FLOOR and CEILING on YouTube, focusing on the NBA Draft and youth basketball.
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