Nets Use Knicks' 2025 1st-Round Pick on Ben Saraf

With the 26th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft — a pick that originally belonged to the New York Knicks — the hosting Brooklyn Nets selected Israeli guard Ben Saraf. The selection was sent across town in the Knicks' polarizing acquisition of Mikal Bridges last summer, one that sacrificed five first-round choices.

At 6-6, Saraf has been lauded for his aggressiveness and playmaking as a backcourt man. He played professionally in Germany for renowned club Ratiopharm Ulm and took home MVP honors at the 2024 FIBA U18 EuroBasket competition. En route to a fourth-place finish (the best is Israel's u-18 history), Saraf led all scorers at 28.1 points per game. That tournament also starred new Nets teammate Nolan Traore, a French prospect who was taken with the 19th pick that also, ironically enough, once belonged to the Knicks.

Saraf is the penultimate addition of the Nets' busy evening, as the hosting Nets had four picks in the opening round alone. BYU guard Egor Demin and French backcourt threat Traore went eighth (the Nets' own pick) and 19th (from Milwaukee) respectively while Brooklyn had the 27th selection from Houston. Brooklyn is also set to acquire North Carolina's Drake Powell, who picked the former Tar Heel in the 22nd spot.

The Knicks have previously held the 26th pick on four occasions, with 1994 selection Charlie Ward being the most notable selection of that quarter being Charlie Ward. Other notable names to go in the 26th slot include Vlade Divac (1989, LA Lakers), Taj Gibson (2009, Chicago), Payton Pritchard (2020, Boston), and current Knick Landry Shamet (2018, Philadelphia).