Following January’s Big Board which featured who I regarded to be the top-20 prospects in the 2025 draft class, this February Edition will feature a full first-round, 30 prospects, with updated positioning.
With exception to the number one and number two prospects of this draft class, Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper respectively, each prospect in the lottery has been reshuffled. The top ten generally remains intact, with three new entrances and a bit of rearranging.
Notable Changes
Kasparas Jakucionis - Fighting Illini’s 6’6 point-guard, now sits at 9th, moving out from third overall. It was the rather disappointing stretch of games by other prospects, Danny Wolf, VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, in January that left Kasparas at third, than Kasparas himself carving out a definitive place in the draft hierarchy. February nonetheless, has not been kind to Kasparas. This month he’s averaging 13.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 3.1 turnovers per game, shooting a dreadful 21.6% from three on an overall 55.8% TS. The absence of a defined athletic trait has become unavoidable to notice. Without his three-point shot falling, turnovers amassing, his defense slipping from what was an already fairly questionable aspect of his game, and above all, the upward trend of other prospects, Kasparas now finds himself mid-to-late lottery. Sheer size and assist production will keep him firmly within the lottery, not to mention his 2pt field-goal percentage has remained resilient through the stretch of bad games (61.4% in February).
VJ Edgecombe - 6’4 Baylor shooting-guard shoots up to 5th, after placing right outside the top ten in January, at 11th. While Edgecombe shot an impressive 38.9% 3pt leading up to February, with an arguably more impressive 9.8 box plus-minus (BPM), there was an uncertainty lingering about Edgecombe’s offense. As the best athlete of this class, or at the very least, the most visually tantalizing one, Edgecombe did not produce the style nor volume of drives to the basket in a halfcourt setting 99th percentile guard-athletes historically do. Edgecombe makes habit of gathering as he approaches the paint, relying solely on his athletic traits to carry him from free-throw line to basket. He’s converted a fair amount of tough floaters in this manner, but more times than not the result is an awkward, stunted drive. These early pick ups reduce opportunities to draw fouls, and low free-throw rates are uncanny among high-end guard-athlete prospects who establish sustained rotation success or better in the NBA.
Seemingly, an internal switch has flicked on for Edgecombe. Driving volume has increased, the 2pt efficiency has sharpened, and his free-throw rate has exploded. Defenders guarding in isolation stand no chance keeping in front, an advantage Edgecombe has become more comfortable exploiting game over game. Despite the poor 3pt shooting (28.6% 3pt), this month has highlighted his strengths in ways not expressed prior.
Derik Queen - The 6’10 big from Maryland offers fun scoring versatility in the frontcourt, best utilized at the power-forward position. Queen originally was scouted as a center—at Montverde he played at center next to power-forward and Gatorade National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg. Currently with the Maryland Terrapins, Queen continues to play at center, accompanied by Julian Reese, Power Forward (and brother of women’s basketball global superstar Angel Reese). Queen, listed at 6’10, likely 6’9, lacks the prerequisite height, wingspan, and athleticism to successfully play NBA center. Queen is inconsistent as a roller and play-finisher, most comfortable creating his own shots. It is best that the shot-creating, midrange shooting, 6’9 big plays at the four, freeing the 5 for a true play-finisher, and freeing himself from responsibilities he has no desire of undertaking. At the 4, Queen can be incredibly dangerous if the perimeter shooting develops. His footwork and handle as a freshman ranks among the best of big men prospects.
SYMBOL GLOSSARY
Roles
Primary: Initiators of the offense. Typically whoever is taking the ball up the floor, directing the offense. Primary ball-handlers usually run a relatively high volume of PnR (e.g., Jayson Tatum, Fred Van Vleet, Donovan Mitchell).
Secondary: Secondary initiators on offense. Increased off-ball scoring, with scaled down ball-handling duties (e.g., DeJounte Murray, Jamal Murray, De’Aaron Fox).
Shot Creator: Specializes in high-volume isolation and PnR perimeter/downhill scoring (e.g., Luka Doncic, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson).
Play Finisher: Off ball scorers with minimal roles as facilitators (e.g., Trey Murphy III, Michael Porter Jr, Cam Whitmore).
C&S: Perimeter-dominant scorers who shoot from a standstill (e.g., Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, OG Anunoby).
Movement Shooter: Perimeter dominant scorers with the ability to score off-screens (e.g., Bogdan Bogdanovic, Luke Kennard, Sam Merrill).
Roll Big - Bigs whose offense is overwhelmingly assisted, generating offense as rollers and cutters (e.g., Clint Capela, Daniel Gafford, Nicholas Claxton).
Versatile Big: Bigs whose offense can scale outside the paint, by way of perimeter scoring or post-play (e.g., Chet Holmgren, Karl Anthony-Towns, Kristaps Porzingis).