2025 NBA Draft Big Board: Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper lead final top 100 rankings

We are roughly one week out from the 2025 NBA Draft. It's smokescreen season, as every team outside the top two has been connected to a million different outcomes depending on how the front office handles the next seven days of evaluation. In short, we don't know what on Earth will happen on Wednesday, June 25.

ESPN's newest mock draft dropped a bomb on expectations, citing newfound skepticism around Ace Bailey, slotting Kon Knueppel to the Hornets at No. 4 and generally mucking up what has already been a difficult lottery to get a handle on. We know Cooper Flagg will go No. 1 to Dallas. Dylan Harper to the Spurs at No. 2 is as close to a lock as you can get without being a lock.

The board really opens up at No. 3, and from there chaos shall reign. As we gear up for the main event and welcome a new generation of stars to the NBA stage, let's lay out the best prospects actually available next week after the final withdrawal deadline on June 15.

Here are FanSided's top 100 prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft, ranked.

Top 100 NBA Draft Prospect Rankings

Collin Murray-Boyles is far more than his shortcomings

The discourse around Collin Murray-Boyles boils down to this: He's an incredible defender and was undeniably impactful in college, but there just aren't players like him in the NBA. He's 6-foot-7, but played a lot of center at South Carolina. He doesn't really shoot, and the indicators aren't very strong moving forward.

And yet, despite the uniqueness of his profile, Murray-Boyles feels destined to transcend the labels currently being applied to him. He's not a "tweener"; he's a switchable defender who can smother guards on a switch or duke it out with bigs in the post. Offensively, he's one of the best interior scorers in recent draft history — a model of efficiency around the basket, with feather-soft touch that should, in time, translate to something approximating a passable 3-point stroke.

There may not be players "like" Murray-Boyles, but I'd consider him more of a unicorn than a black sheep. His strength, agility and craft around the basket is a rare blend. He locates advantages and exploits them with both brute force and pinpoint precision. He's a savvy playmaker in the frontcourt, a deadly driver and, again, he's a monster on defense — undoubtedly the most complete defensive prospect on the board, with the tools to earn multiple All-Defense bids over the next decade.

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Noa Essengue is the latest gem out of France

The NBA Draft has taken on an increasingly strong French flavor in recent years. France now has back-to-back No. 1 picks in Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher, as well as other top-10 selections like Alex Sarr, Tidjane Salaun and Bilal Coulibaly. The infrastructure for prospect development in France is clearly growing, and while this year's draft skews far more toward the domestic stars, we cannot ignore 18-year-old Noa Essengue as a potential hidden gem.

Playing for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany, Essengue is the second-youngest player in the draft — only three days older than Cooper Flagg. Despite his youth and his fairly nascent stage of development, Essengue has been extremely productive for Ulm in the playoffs. He's feasting on easy points, such as backdoor cuts, lobs and offensive rebounds, while also smothering the perimeter and interior alike with his 7-foot-1 wingspan on defense.

While Essengue will require a certain measure of patience at the next level, he should grow quickly into his frame. Moreover, he's a lot sharper than he gets credit for. Essengue knows when and where to move without the ball. He kickstarts transition opportunities with heads-up outlet passes, he screens with a purpose despite his lack of strength and there are flashes — truly tantalizing flashes — of on-ball, downhill creation. Essengue's handle is rudimentary right now, but he can beat closeouts and attack the lane with long, coordinated strides, hanging midair for tough finishes around contact. The foundation is readily apparent, and his age gives him a long runway for future growth.

The Ace Bailey and Tre Johnson conundrum

Ace Bailey and Tre Johnson are both potential top-five picks next week. Both incite a wide range of opinions in draft circles, with each NBA front office — and fan base — consisting of strong fans and strong skeptics in equal measure. Both are immensely talented players who put together special scoring seasons as freshmen in Power Five conferences. So why all this debate? Why aren't either ranked in the top 10?

To be fair, in a tiered version of these rankings, Bailey and Johnson would be grouped right alongside the likes of Khaman Maluach and Thomas Sorber. Both possess incredible strengths and, in the right team context, can absolutely warrant top-10 selections. That said, those strengths are undercut by weaknesses that, in recent years, tend to inhibit NBA success.

Both Bailey and Johnson rely heavily on contested jump shots. Johnson is a far more efficient and prolific 3-point shooter at this stage, and his ability to warp a defense with movement 3s and deep range is valuable. That said, he doesn't put much pressure on the rim or generate many opportunities for teammates. Bailey is a taller, more versatile defensive presence, but his passing numbers are even worse — as is his handle, which consistently prevents Bailey from generating separation or getting downhill. Bailey's ability to shoot over the top of defenders does constitute an advantage — one he exploits often — but it also leads to head-scratching decisions that restrict offensive flow and ice teammates out of possessions.

Johnson is a more polished all-around player, Bailey probably has the higher ceiling. But, as things stand, my general preference among the best of the best lottery prospects tends to favor those with a stout defensive track record and a balanced offensive skill set that touches all areas of the game. Maluach is a titanic rim protector. Sorber is too, plus he's a legitimate playmaking hub at the five spot. Kasparas Jakučionis is a playmaking wizard and a dynamic, multifaceted shooter. These are the traits that set them apart when hairs are being split.

Other important NBA Draft notes

• In the right situation, Arkansas' Adou Thiero might be the best star bet nobody is talking about. He's a bit older at 21, and he still doesn't shoot 3s at a high clip, but Thiero's strength and burst on the wing is special. He can slice right through the lane with a deadly first step and plow through defenders (or dunk over them) at the rim. His ability to self-create dunks and draw fouls is a strong positive indicator. He's also a plus defensive playmaker. Put him in a well-spaced offense, on a team with a strong development staff, and Thiero will outperform his eventual draft slot.

• Colorado State's Nique Clifford begs an age-old question: What's more important, youth or day-one ability? Clifford could end up on the All-Rookie first team. Very few players in this class check more boxes across the board: He's an active defender, a hellacious rebounder for his position, a slick passer, a much improved ball-handler and driver, a legitimate shooting threat. Clifford didn't face much high-end competition in college and he's already 23, which historically means less development over the course of a rookie contract. We can look to recent examples like Jaime Jaquez, who made waves as a rookie only to stall relative to his peers as an NBA sophomore. Clifford's athleticism, feel and track record of constant growth could make him an exception to the rule, however.

• Villanova's Eric Dixon led the NCAA in scoring as a senior. He was extremely productive across the board and a true analytics darling, so why is he slated as a late second-round pick in most mocks? Well, NBA teams tend to fade 24-year-olds with complicated defensive projections — often rightfully so. That said, Dixon is 6-foot-9 and 259 pounds with a prolific 3-point shot, an incredible strength advantage in the post and an exceptionally high feel for the game. He can create and extend advantages inside the arc and he's a genuine three-level scorer with a sharp eye for passing. The Julius Randle comps are right on the surface when watching him. Dixon feels like someone who will get on the floor and contribute as a rookie.

• I am selling extremely low on BYU's Egor Demin. He is a projected lottery pick, with some mocks pegging him as high as Brooklyn or Toronto, but proceed with caution. There's a lot to like on the surface — a 6-foot-9 playmaking wizard with time to grow into his frame — but Demin's scoring chops are well behind the eight ball. He can't create separation or get downhill due to a lack of strength and quickness. He takes plenty of pull-up 3s and such, but he's a subpar shooter with bad touch indicators. The defense is nothing special, bordering on a real concern. If he can't threaten NBA defenses as a scorer, it's hard to envision him unlocking his ceiling as a jumbo playmaker. Even the Josh Giddey comps feel a bit overblown; Demin doesn't have the same wiggle as a ball-handler.