The 2025 NBA draft was the 79th edition of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual draft. Like the 2024 draft, this draft took place over two nights. The draft consisted of 59 picks, rather than 60, because the New York Knicks forfeited a second-round pick for a free agency violation in 2022.
The first round of the draft took place on June 25, while the second took place on June 26. Both rounds were held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The time between second-round picks remained four minutes, a change that was made from the previous year's draft.
The Dallas Mavericks took power forward Cooper Flagg out of Duke University as the first overall selection. The Mavericks won the draft lottery with only a 1.8% chance and previously winning a coin toss for a higher placement in draft total odds over the Chicago Bulls, who finished the season with the same record as the Mavericks.
Notable undrafted players
These players were not selected in the 2025 NBA draft, but have played at least one regular-season or playoff game in the NBA.
Trades involving draft picks
Pre-draft trades
Prior to the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between teams:
Post-draft trades
Post-draft trades are made after the draft begins. These trades are usually not confirmed until the next day or after free agency officially begins.
Combine
The 11th G League Elite Camp took place on May 9–11, from which certain participants were selected to join the main draft combine.
The primary portion of the 2025 NBA draft combine was held from May 11–18 in Chicago, Illinois.
Draft lottery
The NBA draft lottery was held on May 12.
Eligibility and entrants
The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2023 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players' union.
- All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players who were eligible for the 2025 NBA draft must have been born on or before December 31, 2006.
- Since the 2016 draft, the following rules are, as implemented by the NCAA Division I council for that division:
- Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA or sign with an agent, he retains college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft.
- NCAA players now have 10 days after the end of the NBA draft combine to withdraw from the draft. Since the combine is normally held in mid-May, the current deadline is about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline.
- NCAA players may participate in the draft combine and are allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility.
- NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft up to two times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.
Early entrants
Players who were not automatically eligible had to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than at least 60 days before the event. For the 2025 draft, the date fell on April 26. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration deadline, which usually falls 10 days before the draft at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 UTC). Under current NCAA rules, players usually have until 10 days after the draft combine to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility.
A player who has hired an agent for purposes of negotiating with professional teams retains his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted after an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Players who declare for the NBA draft and are not selected have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with their agents, who must have been certified.
On April 29, 2025, the NBA announced the 106 players who filed as early entry candidates. On May 30, 50 early entry candidates withdrew their eligibility. By the end of the international deadline, 13 more early entry players withdrew their names from the draft listing as well, leaving only a total of 46 early entrants (32 being players that were born in the U.S. and 14 being born overseas) available for this year's draft. This marked the lowest total of early entrant players in well over a decade.
College underclassmen
- Ace Bailey – F, Rutgers (freshman)
- Carter Bryant – F, Arizona (freshman)
- Egor Dëmin – G, BYU (freshman)
- V. J. Edgecombe – G, Baylor (freshman)
- Jeremiah Fears – G, Oklahoma (freshman)
- Cooper Flagg – F, Duke (freshman)
- Rasheer Fleming – F, Saint Joseph's (junior)
- Dylan Harper – G, Rutgers (freshman)
- Kasparas Jakučionis – G, Illinois (freshman)
- Tre Johnson – G, Texas (freshman)
- Kon Knueppel – G, Duke (freshman)
- RJ Luis Jr. – G, St. John's (junior)
- Khaman Maluach – C, Duke (freshman)
- Liam McNeeley – F, UConn (freshman)
- Collin Murray-Boyles – F, South Carolina (sophomore)
- Asa Newell – F, Georgia (freshman)
- Yanic Konan Niederhäuser – C, Penn State (junior)
- Drake Powell – G, North Carolina (freshman)
- Tyrese Proctor – G, Duke (junior)
- Derik Queen – C, Maryland (freshman)
- Jase Richardson – G, Michigan State (freshman)
- Will Riley – F, Illinois (freshman)
- Thomas Sorber – C, Georgetown (freshman)
- Adou Thiero – F, Arkansas (junior)
- Danny Wolf – C, Michigan (junior)
College seniors
"Redshirt" referred to players who were redshirt seniors in the 2024–25 season and who have college eligibility remaining.
International players
- Izan Almansa – F, Perth Wildcats (Australia)
- Joan Beringer – C, Cedevita Olimpija (Slovenia)
- Mohamed Diawara – F, Cholet Basket (France)
- Noa Essengue – F, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
- Hugo González – G, Real Madrid (Spain)
- Bogoljub Marković – F, Mega Basket (Serbia)
- Ousmane N'Diaye – C, Coviran Granada (Spain)
- Eli Ndiaye – F, Real Madrid (Spain)
- Saliou Niang – G, Aquila Basket Trento (Italy)
- Noah Penda – F, Le Mans Sarthe (France)
- Ben Saraf – G, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
- Alex Toohey – F, Sydney Kings (Australia)
- Nolan Traoré – G, Saint-Quentin (France)
- Yang Hansen – C, Qingdao Eagles (China)
- Rocco Zikarsky – C, Brisbane Bullets (Australia)
Other
Automatically eligible entrants
Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:
- They have no remaining college eligibility.
- If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated.
- They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, anywhere in the world, and have played under the contract.
Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:
- They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In term of dates players born on or before December 31, 2003, are automatically eligible for the 2025 draft.
- They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.
Invited attendees
The NBA annually invites players to sit in the so-called "green room", a special room set aside at the draft site for the invited players plus their families and agents. Ever since the NBA transitioned itself to a two-day draft as of the previous year's draft, the NBA sends out its invites in waves. The first wave was reported on June 10, with thirteen players confirmed to have received invitations.
A second group of invitees was announced on June 16.
A third group of invitees was announced three days later, raising the overall total to 24 invites.
An additional fourth group of invitees was announced for the second round of the draft on June 26 after every invitee in the prior waves got drafted in the first round, upping the final total of invites to 36. This marked the first time the NBA sent out invites mid-draft. Technically speaking, this also marked the first time a green room invitee went undrafted, with Izan Almansa being invited in this final wave.