In a few weeks, the Charlotte Hornets will select three players (barring a trade) in the 2025 NBA Draft. They have two early second-round picks and a lottery selection that will at minimum be top seven. 106 of the possible players they might select have just officially declared for the draft.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced today that 106 players have filed as early entry candidates for NBA Draft 2025 presented by State Farm, which will be held Wednesday, June 25 (First Round) and Thursday June 26 (Second Round) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New… pic.twitter.com/e4mr12UrBa
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 29, 2025
Some of these players will go back to college. If they didn't hire representation, they can go through the combine process and decide if they want to stay in or head back to school. For now, the pool is 106 players wide, but it will shrink. There are only 60 selections to be made anyway.
Of course, the most notable one is Cooper Flagg.
The Hornets are in the top three, which means they have a 14% chance of landing the first pick and getting Flagg. They have a 13.4% chance of landing the second pick and a 12.7% chance at the third overall pick. That will be either Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey, in all likelihood. They have a 12% chance to pick fourth, so VJ Edgecombe might be on their radar.
If they slip into the 5-7 range, they'll likely have their eye on Khaman Maluach, Kon Knueppel, Tre Johnson, Kasparas Jakucionis, or Derik Queen. Beyond that would probably be a reach, but there will probably be some scouting interest in other prospects in the early lottery, too.
The second round is where things get interesting. The Hornets could possibly package the 33rd and 34th picks and move up into the end of round one, thereby getting someone like Walter Clayton Jr., Nique Clifford, or Alex Condon.
If they stay put, then they might have their eye on Johni Broome, Chaz Lanier, Isaiah Evans, Sion James, Drake Powell, or Bogoljub Markovic. The second round is difficult to predict, but the Hornets will have a ton of options.
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