2025 NBA Draft Fantasy Winners and Losers: Rookie risers, head-scratchers and must-avoids

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You should know by now — I’m not the biggest fan of drafting rookies in fantasy hoops. The learning curve is steep, rotations are messy, and the hype often outpaces production. However, led by Cooper Flagg, the 2025 class appears to offer more genuine opportunities for rookies to secure early playing time. Like any draft, though, there are hits and misses. While Flagg landed in the ideal situation to unlock his two-way potential, other teams (hello, Brooklyn) left us questioning their entire approach. As always, landing spot, opportunity and roster construction shape early rookie value.

Here’s a breakdown of the biggest fantasy winners and losers from draft night.

Winners

Cooper Flagg – SF/PF, Dallas Mavericks

The landing spot couldn’t have been better. He’ll get to play with three future Hall of Famers and be coached by Jason Kidd. He’ll be a starter from Day 1 and will be in a winning environment to further refine his shooting and playmaking. The defense is already there. He’s a guy that I’m expecting to be drafted in the third or fourth round by next season.

San Antonio Spurs

Drafting Dylan Harper with the second pick and following that up with Carter Bryant at 14 was crazy work. The Fox-Castle-Harper dynamic will be frustrating for fantasy initially, but the Spurs are one of the best organizations in the league. They’ll figure it out. Talent-wise, Harper was in a tier of his own after Cooper Flagg.

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Bryant was one of the steals of the draft. His strengths as an athletic, defensively-gifted wing solve a need on the perimeter for San Antonio. Even as a reserve for Arizona, he flashed his potential as a 3-and-D threat, knocking down 37% of his 3s in his freshman campaign. Players with high steal rates in college typically translate well to the NBA. Bryant had a 2.8% steal rate, which was the same as Flagg’s. The Spurs will likely make moves this offseason and it wouldn’t shock me to see them make room to scale up reps for Bryant. They crushed this draft.

Utah Jazz

Shout out to Danny Ainge for not giving af. The decision to draft Ace Bailey was both hilarious and gutsy when Bailey reportedly had no interest in playing there. I figured it was a ploy to get a rival team to pay up to trade for him, but no, he’ll remain with the Jazz. That’s a good thing for his fantasy value, too. The Jazz are in rebuild mode and he’s one of the best pure scorers in the draft. He has some flaws, but Utah is a solid place to work out the kinks.

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The other great move was the selection of Walter Clayton Jr. The clutch bucket-getter and leader of the National Champion Florida Gators will get a chance to take the reins at point guard. The backcourt will likely be a combination of Isaiah Collier, Keyonte George and Clayton Jr., so as long as Sexton gets moved, there are minutes available to get in the rotation next season.

Kasparas Jakučionis – G, Miami Heat

The Miami Heat got their point guard of the future at 20th overall. The former Illini steps into an opportunity to play both guard spots, but his long-term outlook looks brighter at point guard. He’s one of the best facilitators in the draft, and that’ll translate well when running pick-and-rolls with Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware. What Jakučionis lacks in athleticism, he makes up for by getting downhill and bringing physicality to the paint. He shot 68% near the rim last season, and despite being just 6-foot-5, rebounds well for a guard. Jakučionis has a Brandin Podziemski-type profile, though I’d give him an edge in generating assists.

Losers

New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans wanted Derik Queen so bad that they moved up 10 spots in this draft while giving up a 2026 unprotected first-round pick swap with Milwaukee to the Hawks. That will ultimately become a valuable asset. I like Queen, but spacing will be an issue playing alongside Zion Williamson and Yves Missi. Beyond Zion’s lack of availability, I struggle with how Queen will contribute to fantasy as a rookie.

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Similarly, I’m high on Jeremiah Fears’ potential, but the Pelicans literally acquired Jordan Poole this week. And Dejounte Murray (Achilles) will be back in time. The immediate fantasy fit for either player is just not it. It’s just hilarious that the Pelicans are viewing themselves as contenders after giving up an unprotected pick in next year’s draft — a draft that’s being advertised as better than the 2025 class.

Brooklyn Nets

I appreciate that the Nets set an NBA record by drafting five players in the first round. However, they used four of their five picks on guards. The Egor Demin pick at No. 8 was the worst of them all. To then double, triple and quadruple-down on the same position doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to build out a roster. From a fantasy perspective, it’s equally as maddening because fantasy managers are left to sift through too many options by training camp. I’d avoid the Nets altogether; what a mess.

Yang Hansen – C, Portland Trail Blazers

Props to “Chinese Jokić” for being the surprise pick of the draft. Hansen was mocked to go in the second round of most pre-draft mocks, but the Trail Blazers didn’t let that happen, selecting Hansen with the 16th pick. He was reportedly scouted for two years by the Blazers, but did they forget they already have two prominent centers on their roster? Deandre Ayton is the starter, with Donovan Clingan backing him up. Barring a trade, Hansen will go to the G-League and doesn’t carry much fantasy relevancy in Year 1.

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