The 2025 NBA draft is upon us.
It will take place Wednesday and Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and at least one former Kentucky basketball player is expected to hear his name called during the event.
Mark Pope’s first UK basketball squad — which went 24-12 overall last season and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament — has six players eligible for selection in this week’s draft, which will include a total of 59 picks.
Two Wildcats have established themselves as the most likely selections from Pope’s first Kentucky team.
Assuming a Kentucky player is selected during either Wednesday’s first round (30 picks) or Thursday’s second round (29 picks), it will be a landmark moment for Pope. He never produced an NBA draft pick during his previous nine combined seasons as the head coach at Utah Valley and BYU.
With this year’s NBA draft now just hours away, here’s a look at the latest projections for former Kentucky players, top prospects from the SEC and more.
Where are former UK players expected to be taken in NBA draft?
There are six former Kentucky basketball players from the 2024-25 team who are eligible to be taken in this week’s NBA draft. They are Ansley Almonor, Koby Brea, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr, Jaxson Robinson and Amari Williams.
From this group, Brea and Williams have the best draft hopes.
As of Tuesday, the consensus among mock drafts from national outlets is that Brea — who spent four college seasons at Dayton and one at Kentucky — will be a second-round draft choice.
ESPN projects Brea to be selected with the 42nd overall pick by the Sacramento Kings, while The Athletic has Brea going off the board with the No. 55 overall selection by the Los Angeles Lakers. Yahoo has Brea being taken by the Golden State Warriors with the No. 41 overall pick.
The 6-foot-6 sharpshooter was a 43.4% 3-point shooter during his five-year college career, which included leading the Wildcats with 93 made 3-pointers last season.
Brea appears to be in good shape to become the first player with Pope as his college head coach to be taken in the NBA draft.
Williams is the other Kentucky draft prospect with a good chance to hear his name called during the event.
ESPN projects that Williams will be selected with the 53rd overall pick by the Utah Jazz. Several other national outlets also project that Williams — a 7-foot center from England who played four college seasons at Drexel and one at Kentucky — will be taken in the second round of the draft.
The Athletic projects that Williams will be taken 59th overall by the Phoenix Suns with the final pick of the draft. Yahoo has Williams off the board with the 50th overall pick by the New York Knicks. That Yahoo projection has Williams being selected one pick before Auburn’s Johni Broome, who began his college career at Morehead State.
During his lone season in Lexington, Williams averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game.
Brea and Williams were two of the four UK players (along with Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh) who appeared in every game for the Wildcats last season.
None of the other four ex-Cats who are draft eligible — Almonor, Butler, Carr and Robinson — are expected to be selected during the draft. That doesn’t mean their NBA hopes are done, though. These players will likely have opportunities to try and earn a roster spot through NBA Summer League activities, and there’s always the option of going overseas to play professionally.
How will the SEC fare in the 2025 NBA draft?
The SEC made waves in college basketball last season for the league’s dominance, both during the regular season and in the NCAA Tournament.
A staggering 14 of the league’s 16 schools qualified for March Madness. Florida and Auburn both reached the Final Four, with the Gators bringing home the national title. Additionally, Alabama and Tennessee were in the Elite Eight and three other SEC schools — Arkansas, Kentucky and Ole Miss — made it to the Sweet 16 and played in the second weekend of the national postseason.
So as you might have suspected, there will be a heavy SEC presence during this week’s NBA draft.
Currently, ESPN has 11 SEC players projected to be taken among the draft’s 59 selections. The Athletic included 12 SEC prospects in that outlet’s latest mock draft, and the number is also 12 for Yahoo’s latest projection.
And this only includes players whose final college destination was at one of the SEC’s 16 schools.
Players from last season’s SEC who are projected by at least one of ESPN, The Athletic or Yahoo to be taken Wednesday night during the first round of the NBA draft are:
Of particular interest to Kentucky basketball backers will be the projected draft outcome for Thiero, the 6-foot-8 forward who spent his first two college seasons at UK before following John Calipari to Arkansas last season.
ESPN has Thiero slotted at No. 34 overall to the Charlotte Hornets, while The Athletic has him going 40th overall to the Washington Wizards. Yahoo mocks Thiero as a first-round draft selection. Yahoo projects that Thiero will be taken with the 28th overall pick by the Boston Celtics.