May 12, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, US; A person watches the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery at McCormick Place. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images David Banks-Imagn Images

Nets NBA Draft Notebook: International Season Wrap-up

Originally posted on Brooklyn Nets on SI
By Wilko Martinez-Cachero | Last updated Jun 15, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The 2025 NBA Draft is 10 days away.

A pivotal date — one that could be franchise-defining — for the Brooklyn Nets is right around the corner. The team will be picking at Nos. 8, 19, 26, 27 and 36. Trades remain possible, both for players and to move up or down the draft board.

The bulk of the Nets’ scouting will be done. The NCAA college basketball season has been over since the Florida Gators were crowned national champions in April. The G League Elite Camp and the NBA Draft Combine already took place. Yet, there is still some wrapping up to do before the draft arrives.

The Nets are still hosting prospect for workouts at their HSS Training Center in Industry City. The most notable names to have stepped into the facility are Oklahoma Sooners freshman Jeremiah Fears and Duke Blue Devils guard Kon Knueppel; however, prospects from all across the draft spectrum are filing in. The team recently worked out Yale guard John Poulakidas, who will likely go undrafted, or second-round candidate Johni Broome.

Brooklyn are also keeping an eye on whichever international leagues are still being played, such as the Bundesliga (BBL) in Germany and the Liga ACB in Spain.

For the former, Ratiopharm Ulm’s Noa Essengue and Ben Saraf are in the BBL playoff finals against Bayern Munich. Essengue has been linked to the Nets lately, such as Bleacher Report’s May 29 mock draft or Yahoo Sports’ May 31 exercise.

The 18-year-old is the second-youngest player in the draft behind Cooper Flagg. He is averaging 11.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.5 'stocks' in 57 games. Ulm’s first game against Bayern is on Sunday, June 15 at 12 PM ET.

For the latter, Real Madrid’s Hugo González is in a playoff series against Unicaja. The Spanish wing played about 13 minutes in the first game, but that number dropped to just three minutes in the second contest. NBA teams will likely focus on González’s end-of-the-regular season stretch with Madrid, when he was getting the most run. His next game is on Sunday at 11 AM ET.

The third episode of the Nets’ 2025 draft docu-series ‘SCOUT’ focused on scouting the European market and showed assistant general manager B.J. Johnson traveling through Europe in October 2024. He visits Germany, Spain and France.

“The game has become so global, you can find a guy in some of these places who could be massive for your franchise,” Johnson said. “You have to go wherever the talent is.”

This article first appeared on Brooklyn Nets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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