NBA Draft 2025: Did the Hornets reach for Kon Knueppel? And why the Spurs did the right thing with Dylan Harper

Yahoo

2 days ago

The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is officially in the books, and with the second round projecting as one big, enormous "meh," it's probably fair to say the most exciting part of the draft has now passed.
(This raises the question of whether the NBA should continue with the two-day draft format. It's two rounds, for Pete's sake!)
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With the first round concluded, thoughts are gathered. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, critical thoughts, and whatever thoughts I had when Pelicans head honcho Joe Dumars decided to make himself a villain in this story.
So, let's get to it.
Love Collin Murray-Boyles, hate the Raptors fit
Murray-Boyles fits virtually everywhere, due to his playmaking upside, defensive impact and bully-ball capabilities on the offensive end.
In my eyes, we're talking about a guy who stands a good chance at being a top 3-5 player from this draft.
Yet, the Raptors might be the lone place where the do-it-all power forward won't be able to spread his wings.
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The organization traded for, and later extended, Brandon Ingram at the deadline, while already being in possession of Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. That's three players best suited to play small forward who will have to steal significant minutes at the four out of sheer necessity.
Murray-Boyles played a lot of center at South Carolina, but at 6-foot-7 that's probably not something he can get away with at the NBA level, at least not permanently. So that avenue isn't super attractive.
Of course, free agency has yet to hit us, so perhaps team president Masai Ujiri has something up his sleeve to move players around. But we can only go off the current roster construction, and that's certainly not optimized for someone like Murray-Boyles.
Great value at No. 9, but the projected implementation looks worrying to say the least.
Let's talk Kon Knueppel
For a while now, I've been skeptical of whether the sweet-shooting wing should be a top-5 selection.
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The shooting upside is indeed ridiculous: 40.6% from 3-point range and 91.4% from the foul line.
But what will the role be? If he's to become primarily an off-ball shooter, picking him fourth is high, to the point where you have to wonder if Charlotte trading down would have made more sense, perhaps to target Tre Johnson or another alternative.
Knueppel will essentially have to become a No. 2 guy, or at worst a supercharged tertiary option, to justify that draft slot — not that where he's picked is within his control, of course.
Does the 6-5 wing with the T-Rex wingspan have it in him to consistently create on the ball at the NBA level? Guess we'll find out. I'm rooting for him to silence my skepticism because I actually like him a great deal.
"Sometimes, the playbook is easy." — The San Antonio Spurs, probably
While we can't credit them for the quote above, the Spurs did indeed stick to a simple playbook by doing two simple things.
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1. They kept their picks
2. They chose the best player available
Instead of getting concerned about fit, at No. 2 they grabbed Dylan Harper, a 6-6 lead guard with All-NBA upside who projects as a wonderful building block with Victor Wembanyama.
Harper's shooting concerns (33.3% from longe range) could have seen a lesser franchise chicken out of the selection, but the Spurs trust their coaching staff and their process.
Oh, right, at No. 14 they also took Carter Bryant, who should immediately enter the rotation based on his 3&D capabilities.
Bryant was not only the best player left on the board, but also the best theoretical fit for San Antonio. Unsurprisingly, the Spurs are already winners.
Oh, Joe. Oh, honey, no. No, no, no. What are you doing?
Look, every new lead executive wants to make a splash, but this isn't how you do it.
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Joe Dumars, who recently took over day-to-day operations of the Pelicans, came out swinging aggressively and ending up smacking himself right in the face with his own bat.
After acquiring No. 23 from Indiana during the Finals — and giving back the Pacers' own pick next season — he was already behind the curve, with Tyrese Haliburton tearing his Achilles and likely missing all of next season.
Had Dumars waited until after the Finals, he would have seen how much more valuable the pick is now.
But no, he made sure to lose the next deal as well, which also featured No. 23, just to streamline things.
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Dumars sent that selection, plus an unprotected 2026 first-round pick swap — the best of New Orleans' own or Milwaukee's — to the Atlanta Hawks for No. 13.
Yes, he traded away a potentially juicy pick, entirely unprotected, just to move up 10 spots in the draft.
Let's pause there and acknowledge that type of package should fetch far more than just the 13th friggin' selection. That's a package that gets you into the high lottery, potentially in the top 5-6 range.
If that wasn't bad enough, Dumars spent his selection on Derik Queen, a center who doesn't defend nor shoot 3-pointers. In the year 2025.
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My great colleague Dan Devine called this "interesting" because he's a polite and proper human being.
I'm not.
Dumars just took a sledgehammer to the future flexibility of the Pelicans, solely to have the opportunity to be outrageously optimistic on a player who goes against where the NBA is headed.
For this to work, Queen has to become an absolute star. And even if he does, the process is so egregious, Pelicans fans should have every right to attend games next year wearing paper bags over their heads.
With Dumars at the helm, odds are good the Pelicans will paint themselves completely into a corner and lose whatever fan interest is left.
I absolutely love Oklahoma City going with Sorber
We don't know what the future holds for Isaiah Hartenstein, who might become too expensive to retain down the line, and Chet Holmgren tends to get injured.
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Strengthening the center rotation is never a bad idea, and the Thunder just got one of the best damn big men in the draft at No. 15.
Sorber is 6-11 and has a 7-6 wingspan. He's also 263 pounds. Basically, he's an enormous human being.
More than that, though, he's agile, has surprisingly solid mobility, and he leans into doing the so-called "big-man stuff," such as rebounding (8.5 per game), blocking shots (two per game) and generally protecting the paint.
Rock solid bit of business there by the Thunder.
The Bulls taketh, the Bulls giveth away
Oh, Bulls. At the very least, your indifference about everything remains the same year after year.
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At No. 12 the team chose Frenchman Noa Essengue, who is just 18 years old. That would surely signal a willingness to think long term, right?
Well, the Bulls traded No. 45 for No. 55 and cash Thursday, once again underlining how their process is never about basketball, but instead about the bottom line.
Any good team worth its salt will look under every rock and scour the world for talent. The Bulls are fine just picking whomever drops to them and then save money.
There's no added effort. There's no expansive search for a difference-maker.
As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise general manager Marc Eversley more or less admitted the same team will return next year in his end-of-season new conference.
Get ready to revisit the play-in, Bulls fans. Aren't you excited?