The top two picks of the 2025 NBA Draft were near certainties with Cooper Flagg going #1 overall to the Dallas Mavericks and Dylan Harper going to the San Antonio Spurs. But behind that was a whole lot of uncertainty and intrigue led by the Brooklyn Nets and their incredible war chest of five first round selections.
What would the Nets do? Would they package some of those picks to move up in the draft? Would they try to trade some away for other assets like future picks or players who could contribute right away? Maybe they could call the Pelicans and fleece Joe Dumars out of an unprotected first rounder like the Hawks somehow did.
As it turns out, none of those things happened. The Nets used all five of their first round picks, leaving both basketball fans and apparently people inside the NBA utterly confused.
Appearing on ESPN’s third feed of NBA Draft coverage that was streamed on YouTube. Brian Windhorst appeared with the Numbers on the Board podcast team. And following one of many Brooklyn selections in Round 1, Windhorst forwarded that NBA executives and agents were laughing at the Nets and their strategy.
Brian Windhorst on ESPN mentions execs and agents were contacting him making fun of the Brooklyn Nets draft room.
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/bNP91GvVT0
— NetsKingdom 👑🗽 (@NetsKingdomAJ) June 26, 2025
“I got some people telling me some things about Brooklyn. People are making fun of these draft picks. I got people saying to me, you know, executives and agents, they’re like ‘I was watching them play three two-way guys during this year so that they could clout for taking the guys in the 20s. He’s like ‘These two-way guys might be just as good as these guys they are taking.’ I don’t know anything about it, I’m just saying what people are saying,” Windhorst said.
Sadly for Nets fans, there was no “Now why is that” meme from Brian Windhorst to hint at something bigger. Instead, they became the first team in NBA Draft history to make five first round selections. Even more improbably, four of those picks were guards and three were point guards. But at least they still have D’Angelo Russell too!