NBA DRAFT - Round 1 of the 2025 NBA draft on Wednesday began with Cooper Flagg, the first of three Duke players selected, being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the No. 1 pick. And it ended with the LA Clippers drafting center Yanic Konan Niederhauser with pick No. 30.

There were winners and surprises, such as the Utah Jazz selecting Rutgers guard Ace Bailey with the No. 5 pick and the Phoenix Suns landing the topranked center in Duke’s Khaman Maluach at No. 10.

Here are the First Round Draft picks of the 2025 NBA Darft: First Round 1 . Mavericks draft Cooper Flagg (Duke) 2. Spurs draft Dylan Harper (Rutgers) 3 . 76ers draft VJ Edgecombe (Baylor) 4. Hornets draft Kon Knueppel (Duke) 5 . Jazz draft Ace Bailey (Rutgers) 6. Wizards draft Tre Johnson (Texas) 7 . Pelicans draft Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma) 8. Nets draft Egor Demin (BYU) 9. Raptors draft Collin Murray-Boyles (South Carolina)

10 . Rockets draft Khaman Maluach (Duke) – Traded to Suns 11. Trail Blazers draft Cedric Coward (Washington State) – Traded to Grizzlies

12 . Bulls draft Noa Essengue (Ratiopharm Ulm) 13. Hawks draft Derik Queen (Maryland) – Traded to Pelicans 14. Spurs draft Carter Bryant (Arizona) 15 . Thunder draft Thomas Sorber (Georgetown)

16 . Grizzlies draft Yang Hansen (Qingdao) – Traded to Trail Blazers 17 . Timberwolves draft Joan Beringer (Cedevita Olimpija) 18 . Wizards draft Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida) – Traded to Jazz 19 . Nets draft Nolan Traoré (Saint-Quentin BB) 20. Heat draft Kasparas Jakučionis (Illinois) 21 . Jazz draft Will Riley (Illinois) – Traded to Wizards

22. Hawks draft Drake Powell (North Carolina) – Traded to Nets 23 . Pelicans draft Asa Newell (Georgia) – Traded to Hawks 24 . Thunder draft Nique Clifford (Colorado State) – Traded to Kings 25 . Magic draft Jase Richardson (Michigan State) 26 . Nets draft Ben Saraf (Ratiopharm Ulm) 27 . Nets draft Danny Wolf (Michigan) 28 . Celtics draft Hugo González (Real Madrid) 29 . Suns draft Liam McNeeley (Connecticut) – Traded to Hornets 30. Clippers draft Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Penn State) OKC Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder have selected Georgetown’s Thomas Sorber with the No. 15 pick of the 2025 NBA draft. The pick was from the Miami Heat.

Sorber played in one season at Georgetown. He averaged 14.5 points on 53.2% shooting, 8.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He shot 16.2% from 3 on 1.5 attempts. He was a 72.4% free-throw shooter. He also averaged two blocks and 1.5 steals.

The New Jersey native was named a unanimous 2024-25 Big East All-Freshman team selection and also received All-Big East Third Team honors during his lone season with the Hoyas.

The 19-year-old is a 6-foot-10, 255-pound forward. He was shut down for the season in February with a season-ending foot surgery.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have traded the No. 24 pick of the 2025 NBA draft to the Sacramento Kings, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. They selected Colorado State’s Nique Clifford for the Kings.

The Thunder received the No. 24 pick from the LA Clippers.

What the NBA champions received in return is still unknown but will be mentioned when the full details are revealed. It’s likely a future draft pick, though.

They still own the No. 44 pick (via Hawks) for the second round.

The Thunder also acquired a 2027 first-round draft pick from the Sacramento Kings (via the San Antonio Spurs) as part of a separate transaction in exchange for the draft rights to guard Nique Clifford, the 24th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.

Oklahoma Sooners

The New Orleans Pelicans selected Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears with the No. 7 pick in the NBA draft on Wednesday.

Fears averaged 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists to help OU make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2020-2021 season. He played just one season with the Sooners and was almost immediately tabbed as a lottery pick when he announced his intention to enter the draft.

“If this brother develops a consistent jump shot, I’m telling you right now, I’m looking at the second coming of Kyrie Irving,” ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith said upon the selection.

Fears had been projected to go sixth to the Washington Wizards in the final USA TODAY Sports mock draft, but that spot went to Texas guard Tre Johnson.

Fears is the first Oklahoma men’s basketball player taken in the draft since Trae Young in 2018. Other Sooners first-round picks since 1989 are Buddy Hield (No. 6 in 2016), Blake Griffin (No. 1 in 2009), Mookie Blaylock (No. 12 in 1989) and Stacey King (No. 6 in 1989).

A double-digit scorer in 30 of 34 games and a 20-point scorer in a teamhigh-tying 11 of them, Fears was especially effective late in the season as he finished with at least 20 points in each of OU’s last three contests, four of its last five and six of its last nine. He averaged 22.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists over the season’s last nine outings to become the only SEC player since at least 1996-97 to average at least 20.0/4.5/5.0 over a ninegame span.

Fears scored a careerhigh 31 points and added four rebounds and five assists in a win over No. 15 Missouri on March 5, going 9 for 13 from the field and 12 for 12 at the free throw line. He registered 30 points in a one-point Jumpman Invitational win over No. 24 Michigan on Dec. 18 in Charlotte, N.C., converting a 4-point play with 11 seconds left for the game’s final points.

He was particularly strong in the postseason, registering 29 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals in a first-round SEC Tournament win over Georgia and following with 28 points, four boards, five assists and three steals in one-point loss to No. 15 Kentucky the next night. Against the Wildcats, he scored 10 points in last 1:19 to help OU go from down 10 to up one (he made the go-ahead driving lay-in with 5.6 seconds left). Then in the NCAA Tournament first round against two-time defending champion UConn, he tallied a game-high 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Fears, who was tabbed the No. 24 overall prospect in the 2025 ESPN 100, reclassified to the class of 2024 and arrived on OU’s campus last August. He came off the bench in each of OU’s first three games before starting the final 31. His ability was on display from the outset, and he was named to the Battle 4 Atlantis All-Tournament Team in November after helping the Sooners beat Providence, No. 24 Arizona and Louisville

on consecutive days to win the title. He averaged 18.7 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 steals over those three victories, and went for 26 points, five boards and five assists in the semifinals against the Wildcats.

He recorded another stellar effort in a Feb. 22 home win over No. 21 Mississippi State when he turned in a 27-point, careerhigh 10-assist, five-rebound afternoon. He became one of just two SEC players (Auburn’s Sharife Cooper in 2020-21 was the other) since at least the 1996-97 campaign and one of only two Power Four players on the season (Louisville’s Terrence Edwards Jr. was the other) to record 27-plus points, 10-plus assists and five-plus rebounds in a game.

A business major at OU, Fears declared for the draft April 2. He is the second Sooner drafted by the Pelicans, joining Hield.

Fears represented the Sooners well in his post-selection interview on ESPN.

“It means the world to me just being able to go out here and show the world what Oklahoma basketball can bring,” Fears said.

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