The Nets started out the season with six picks in the 2025 Draft. They sent a second to Golden State in the Dennis Schroder deal. Will they move others?
In our latest mock draft round-up, the news isn’t so much that one player or another has become a consensus pick for the Brooklyn Nets. There are names that keep showing up, but until the Draft Lottery in Chicago on May 12, those names are not much better than guess work. Not only will the selection give fans a clearer look at the future, it will also likely effect other decisions by the front office, including how many of their five picks — four firsts and a second — will they use.
Sean Marks is indeed famous for making deals at the Draft. In all but one of nine years he’s been GM of the Nets, he’s made trades within 48 hours of when the Commissioner steps to the podium. Sometimes, the deals are small, but some like last year’s with the Knicks and Rockets, have been direction-changing.
And so, when senior draftniks like ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo wonder aloud about the Nets draft strategy it’s smart to pay attention. They usually have the best take. In this week’s latest mock from ESPN, their projected picks come with a “NBA intel and fit” paragraph. In discussing each one of the prospects they assign to Brooklyn, Givony and Woo hint that the Nets may not use all five picks, attaching the same basic caveat to their assessment of what the Nets might do with the three picks they currently have between Nos. 20 through 26.
On the Bucks pick at 20…
Though most NBA teams would never consider rostering four rookies, the Nets have few players under guaranteed contracts next season and might be in position to keep all four if they like their options on June 26. – Givony.
On the Rockets’ pick at 23…
The Nets hold a league-high four first-round picks in this draft, and though they might not make all of them, it’s a big opportunity to strengthen their collection of young players. – Woo
On the Knicks pick at 26…
Armed with four first-round picks, the Nets have great flexibility with how to approach this draft. – Givony
As Givony noted, simultaneous development of four or five players can be a bear for a team’s front office, particularly one that has never had a pick higher than No. 20 nor more than two firsts in any draft. And should the Nets get lucky and wind up with a top three pick, the four first rounders would cost them close to $20 million in cap space in 2025-26. (The second rounder is likely to be signed to a two-way contract.)
Moreover, the Nets already have two 20-year-olds, Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney, under contract next season. (Whitehead and Clowney, the second and fourth youngest players in the NBA when they were drafted in 2023, are still younger than about a third of the 59 players who’ll be drafted on the nights of June 25 and June 26.)
Then, there’s the market. There are nine teams without a first rounder in the 2025 Draft, two — the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets — with no picks in either round. GMs for any of those teams may see someone they love drop on Draft Night and then start making phone calls to teams that have picks. It happens. Might Marks move some picks in a trade —Brooklyn leads the NBA in tradeable picks with 12 over next seven years — or simply kick the ball down the road and acquire more draft capital in 2026 when they have one first and two seconds.
Just another set of options among a large number for Brooklyn decision-makers. As for the mock drafts themselves, there seems to be little consensus anywhere but it’s early.
Still, there are players whose names keep popping up next to the Nets name on draft boards but not in any consistent manner. One mock has 6’2” Arkansas point guard (and Bronx native) Boogie Fland being taken by the Nets at No. 6 while others have him going in the second round!
For the record, seven prospects show up twice on six of the mocks we surveyed: Kasparas Jakucionis of Illinois and Lithuania, Tre Johnson of Texas, Johni Broome of Auburn, Rasheer Fleming of St. Joseph’s, Noah Penda and Joan Beringer, French bigs and Will Riley of Illinois.
ALL that said, here’s the round-up. We rely on the latest mock — most having been published in the last week — from six different sites. In the case of The Athletic New York Times, which has hasn’t pushed a mock of late, we used their most recent Top 100 big board.
ESPN
The gold standard for decades and the most traditional. You won’t find unconventional picks from Givony and Woo. But if you do, it’s likely based on solid intelligence.
#6 – Kasparas Jakucionis, PG, 6’6”, Illinois (Lithuania)
#20 – Asa Newell, PF, 6’11” Georgia
#23 – Hugo Gonzalez, SG/SF, 6’7” Real Madrid (Spain)
#26 – Alex Condon, C, 6’11” Florida
#36 – Maxime Raynaud, C, 7’1” Stanford (France)
Jakucionis, say the ESPN duo, is a good fit for the Nets.
Brooklyn will enter its offseason with plentiful salary-cap space and draft assets, with its front office having repositioned the franchise over the past 18 months. While the exact timeline toward competing remains unclear — many of the league’s rebuilding teams have to consider the talent at the top of the 2026 draft, as well — landing the best long-term talent with their four first-round picks will be a major offseason task. Jakucionis would be a nice fit, giving the Nets a long-term backcourt player to develop. — Woo
Of course, it should be noted that Marks and assistant GM and draft guru B.J. Johnson saw Dylan Harper destroy Jakucionis at Rutgers.
The Athletic/New York Times
Sam Vecenie is in the minority in believing the 2025 draft is not what it’s mocked up to be. He sees it as mediocre. His selections are also a bit unconventional but Vecenie has a good track record.
#6 – Kon Knueppel, wing, 6’7”, Duke
#20 – Rasheer Fleming, PF, 6’9”, St. Joseph’s
#23 – Joan Beringer, SF/PF, 6’11”, Cedevita (France / Benin)
#26 – Johni Broome, PF, 6’10”, Auburn
#36 – JoJo Tugler, SF, 6’9”, Houston
Kneuppel had been the draftniks’ favorite for the Nets in past mocks, but no longer. He’s still hovering in the mid-lottery though.
[Scouts] really value Knueppel’s shooting ability and think he’ll continue to develop into the kind of player who can not just make open 3s from NBA distance but also attack closeouts and run ball screens with comfort because of his feel for the game.
Beringer, 18, is among France’s younger set and has been rising in mock drafts of late.
Tankathon
Everybody’s post-game favorite doesn’t just track lottery odds. They also have a mock draft which is updated as events dictate … like every night. So things change. As of Thursday night, the Nets were in sole possession of fifth place, but 24 hours later, the Nets who didn’t play still fell to sixth. Check again in the morning.
#6 – Kasparas Jakucionis, PG, 6’6”, Illinois (Lithuania)
#20 – Thomas Sorber, C, 6’10”, Georgetown
#24 – Will Riley, wing, 6’8”, Illinois
#26 – Adou Thiero, PF, 6’8”, Arkansas
#36 – Carter Bryant, wing, 6’8”, Arizona
Like ESPN, Tankathon likes Jakucionis. Enough said.
NBADraft.net
Like we’ve written previously, NBADraft.net is a bit unconventional. They continue to see Boogie Fland in a brighter light than anyone else. On the other hand, they have Jakucionis at No. 14, lower than most.
#6 – Boogie Fland, PG, 6’2”, Arkansas
#19 – Rasheer Fleming, PF, 6’9”, St. Joseph’s
#25 – Jaland Lowe, SG, 6’3” Pitt
#29 – Noah Penda, PF, 6’10”, France
#36 – Joan Beringer, SF/PF, 6’11”, Cedevita (France / Benin)
In his assessment of Fland, the site’s Jorrye Nixon wrote:
6’2” combo guard … Good length … Can play on or off the ball. Constantly moves without the ball in his hands … Quick first step with the ball and effective jab step. Stays under control at a quick pace.
Tough player and highly confident … Vocal leader … Younger for his class, turned 18 in July after high school graduation.
Like Beringer, Traore and Noa Essengue, Penda is part of a big French delegation to the 2025 Draft. Other than the U.S., France is the leader among nationalities.
NBA Draft Room
A thorough if not well-known draft site with individual assessments, NBA Draft Room is also more conventional than NBADraft.net with which it can be confused. They like some other sites have dropped Demin in recent weeks. He had been mocked as high as top 5 and to the Nets but his lack of speed, among other things, has diminished his prospects.
#6 – Tre Johnson, SG – 6’6” wing, Texas
#20 – Egon Demin, PG, 6’9”, Brigham Young (Russia)
#23 – JT Toppin, PF, 6’9”, Texas Tech
#27 – Noah Penda, PF, 6’10”, France
#36 – Bogoljub Markovic, PF, 6’11”, Serbia
Johnson has been mocked to the Nets in the past and why not? He’s gets buckets.
Tre is a pure bucket-getter who can fill it up from 3 levels. He’s super smooth with the ball and makes the game look easy. He’s not an elite athlete but gets it done with his super high skill level, good handles and great shooting touch. He’s had some ups and downs this year but his iso-scoring ability is special and he’ll be a bucket in the NBA.
Johnson, like a number of college prospects, worked out at HSS Training Center while prepping for games at Barclays Center or Madison Square Garden.
SB Nation NBA
The home team (aka SB Nation) only mocks the first round so far and offers consistency with a lot of other projections.
#6 – Tre Johnson, SG – 6’6” wing, Texas
#21 – Johni Broome, PF, 6’10”, Auburn
#23 – Liam McNeeley, SG, 6’7” UConn
#26 – Will Riley, wing, 6’8”, Illinois
SBNation NBA did an extensive analysis of Jakucionis. Ricky O’Donnell had this to say about the Lithuanian’s “astronomical” turnover rate:
As winning the possession game becomes increasingly important in the NBA, teams won’t want a young guard who is fumbling the ball all over the place. I think Jakucionis can clean this up to some extent, but he’s always going to be a below-average run-and-jump athlete as an NBA guard, and that necessitates some riskier plays. To this point, the Illini freshman looks far more comfortable shooting off the dribble than off the catch, which is another downside for a player who doesn’t generate a ton of rim pressure.
Bottom line: only the Nets front office knows what they plan to do and those plans, of course, are subject to change and change and change.