The 2025 NBA Draft cycle is now beyond us. As expected, Cooper Flagg went to the Mavericks, Dylan Harper headed to San Antonio, but the rest of the first round served up plenty of shockers and head-scratchers.
I thought some teams drafting in the late 1st or early 2nd round got excellent value for their picks.
What is interesting is that I thought that some teams that historically haven’t been great at drafting did an outstanding job this year.
With the 2025 NBA Draft now in the past, it’s a good time to examine a few selections that I believe offer not only good value for their picks but also fit well with what their teams are building or can help them overcome some of their weaknesses.
Kon Knueppel (and Ryan Kalkbrenner), Charlotte Hornets
With the Hornets, I’m not sure for how much longer they’ll ride with the core built around LaMelo Ball.
It seems like the answer right now is ‘at least for one more year.’ It’s likely that next season, barring major injury problems, the Hornets should be more than a 19-win team.
I absolutely loved their draft haul outside of Liam McNeeley. I graded Kon Knueppel as an A-level pick for the Hornets, and while I didn’t do full 2nd-round grades, Ryan Kalkbrenner was an easy A+ at 34, considering I had him 13th on my last board.
There’s no way to get around it; the Hornets’ offense was putrid last season. Too much of the creation burden lays on Ball’s shoulders, who, per Basketball Reference, had the highest usage in the entire NBA (35.9%). When he was out, Brandon Miller struggled with an uptick in usage and off-dribble shooting volume. The Hornets were 29th in offensive rating, 30th in true shooting percentage, 21st in pace, and last in half-court offense. Per Synergy, Charlotte scored just 0.913 points per possession in half-court, the lowest in the league.
This is the style of basketball that the Hornets need to move away from as soon as possible.
Luckily, Knueppel embodies the archetype of an easy-to-fit, super-efficient half-court scorer. Contrary to what the Hornets did last season, Knueppel was one of the better half-court scorers in all of D1, getting 1.129 points per shot. He had an astonishing 65% true shooting percentage in HC last season; this was partly aided by Duke’s highly optimized offense, which mostly eliminated off-the-dribble attempts from Knueppel’s shot diet and maximized his off-ball movement and shooting off catch.
That doesn’t mean Knueppel is limited or anything like that. On the contrary, I think he’s a very intriguing and self-conscious attempt by the Hornets to move away from flash to substance. One of the ways this manifests in Knueppel’s game is just how down-to-business his drives to the basket are – there’s no wasted motion, and Knueppel just gets to the basket in 2-3 dribbles.
I love his fit with the Hornets even more after they drafted Kalkbrenner, another 98th-percentile half-court player who has been one of the best play-finishers in college basketball over the last 20 years. Knueppel does a great job at leveraging his shooting gravity and off-ball movement into secondary playmaking opportunities. At Duke, the recipient of his P&R stuff and lobs was Maluach; in Charlotte, it’s going to be Kalkbrenner.
Adou Thiero, Los Angeles Lakers
Thiero was the biggest steal of the draft relative to my board – he ended up going 36th, while I had him at 9th.
Rob Pelinka did a fantastic job moving up in the 2nd round. In theory, the Lakers had a bigger need at center, and they would’ve welcomed Kalkbrenner with open arms. That’s not to say Thiero doesn’t meet any immediate needs in LA.
After trading Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic, the Lakers need more physicality and athleticism as they also play Austin Reaves and a 40-year-old LeBron James.
This was especially evident in the series against the Timberwolves. Despite being a 3-seed and having a home-court advantage, the Lakers were no match for the longer, more athletic, and defensively imposing squad in Minnesota.
Thiero is one of the two best functional athletes in the draft, alongside VJ Edgecombe. He’s not going to solve all of their problems, and Pelinka obviously needs to strengthen the frontcourt. Still, Thiero’s defensive versatility makes him an asset for coach JJ Redick almost from day one. The former Arkansas forward is someone who can come in and immediately provide defense both on and off the ball, as well as secondary rim protection.
His one obvious drawback is his shooting, but Thiero was still a wildly efficient half-court player for Arkansas last season, thanks to his smart off-ball movement and play finishing.
Between Luka, LeBron, and Austin Reaves, the Lakers generate a lot of playmaking/shooting gravity, which is something that Thiero will be able to feast on. I’m assuming we’ll see plays where the Lakers will attack the nail area either via short rolls or dribble drives, and Thiero will have a field day finishing plays off baseline cuts.
Thiero is effective hanging around the dunker spot, which could be an interesting option playing him around floor spacers; he has also demonstrated a knack for busting zone coverages as an FT line flasher. Playmaking from standstill positions around the nail area is one of the ways in which Thiero can justify staying on the floor offensively at the beginning of his NBA career.
Jase Richardson, Orlando Magic
The Magic clearly feel like there’s an opportunity to take a leap forward, as injuries to Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton open up a power vacuum in the NBA’s East. Orlando has been an active buyer, swinging on an ambitious trade for Desmond Bane.
Their draft was excellent for them as well. The Magic grabbed Michigan State’s Jase Richardson with the 25th pick, a player I had 7th on my final big board, and in the 2nd round, they selected Noah Penda, whom I also had as a borderline lottery-grade prospect.
I’ll focus on Jase here. Teams passed on him because of his off-ball role as an undersized guard, but I think there’s a chance Richardson will make an impact in his first season in Orlando.
I didn’t enjoy Orlando’s offense last season. It was weighed too heavily on Banchero’s pick-and-roll, isolation play, and mid-range shooting. They couldn’t make threes to save their lives. The pace was not good at all. So replacing inefficient, volume-shooting guys like Cole Anthony with Richardson, who’s an excellent scorer at all three levels, feels like a slam dunk for the Magic.
Richardson and Orlando are a pairing that’s a bit like Knueppel-Hornets, where a wildly efficient player joins a wildly inefficient team. He’s going to provide floor spacing and intelligent off-ball movement for a team that badly cries for those traits.
The Magic were below average at pressuring the rim last season. Richardson gives them some sneaky upside at that aspect of the game because he’s outstanding at attacking closeouts, getting to the rim, and then navigating tight spaces to get layup angles. Jase improved his 3-point shooting as the season went on, meaning his shooting gravity forced teams into harder closeouts than at the beginning of the season. Plus, Richardson is always such an active mover off-ball that it became tough for opposing teams to keep him out of the paint.
On paper, Richardson’s assist rate might look a bit underwhelming, but it’s been partly sagged by the fact that Michigan State as a team was in the top 10 in assist rate last season. His feel for the game is exemplified by an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio, which remained high even after Richardson took a late-season usage bump in February. He turns his rim pressure and deep paint drives into looks for his teammates as well.
One of the traits underscoring Jase’s basketball IQ is that he’s always looking to engage the paint on his drives before dropping off passes to teammates spotting up, cutting, or lurking at the dunker spot.
Much of this contrasts with Magic’s often static and inefficient offense. Bane and Jase are outstanding moves in the right direction in terms of play style, but to make it work, Orlando’s current stars will have to buy in.
What I like about Orlando selecting Richardson is that his sneaky high, underrated upside provides some long-term flexibility. The Magic now has a super expensive core in Banchero, Franz Wagner, Bane, and Jalen Suggs. If that doesn’t pan out and Richardson turns out great, they could ship out one of those four and have Jase among their long-term core pieces.
Jase has actually taken the late-season usage bump well. It is also efficient in other areas often associated with star lead guards, such as good off-dribble shooting, in-between game, and 1-on-1 driving ability, footwork, and the ability to turn the corner and keep his dribble alive. However, his scalability is still somewhat of a question mark due to an overreliance on his left hand.
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