2025 NBA Draft: Date, location, order of picks & how to watch

The 2025 NBA Draft takes place this week and while there will be no shock when it comes to who is the first pick, there is a lot that can happen with the latter picks, especially given we have already seen two big trades affect the event in the past few days.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know for the upcoming draft.

2025 NBA Draft dates

The 2025 draft will be held across two days, Wednesday 25th June and Thursday 26th June, although it will actually be Thursday 26th and Friday 27th in the UK due to time difference.

2025 NBA Draft times

The first round on Thursday 26th June begins at 1am BST, while the second-round selection process gets underway at 1am BST the following day.

2025 NBA Draft location

This year’s draft will be staged in Brooklyn, New York, at the Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.

2025 NBA Draft how to watch

In the early hours of Thursday morning you can watch the first round on both ABC and ESPN in the US. UK viewers can watch via the NBA League Pass. 

2025 NBA Draft format

Barring trades either before the draft - of which there have already been a few - or during it, each of the 30 NBA franchises gets a pick in both the first and second rounds.

Teams can also end up with multiple or no first-round picks if they acquired or gave up 2025 draft capital in past trades. 

The order is determined by both the regular-season standings and a lottery involving all 14 teams that missed the play-offs.

The lottery determines the first four spots, after which picks five through 30 go from worst record to best record.

2025 NBA Draft first-round order

1. Dallas Mavericks
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Philadelphia 76ers
4. Charlotte Hornets 
5. Utah Jazz 
6. Washington Wizards
7. New Orleans Pelicans 
8. Brooklyn Nets
9. Toronto Raptors
10. Houston Rockets (From Phoenix via Brooklyn) 
11. Portland Trail Blazers
12. Chicago Bulls 
13. Atlanta Hawks (from Sacramento)
14. San Antonio Spurs (from Atlanta) 
15. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Miami via the LA Clippers)
16. Memphis Grizzlies (from Orlando)
17. Minnesota Timberwolves (from Detroit via New York, Oklahoma City, and Houston)
18. Washington Wizards (from Memphis)
19. Brooklyn Nets (from Milwaukee via New York, Detroit, Portland, and New Orleans)
20. Miami Heat (from Golden State) 
21. Utah Jazz (from Minnesota) 
22. Atlanta Hawks (from LA Lakers via New Orleans) 
23. New Orleans Pelicans (from Indiana)
24. Oklahoma City Thunder (from LA Clippers)
25. Orlando Magic (from Denver)
26. Brooklyn Nets (from New York) 
27. Brooklyn Nets (from Houston)
28. Boston Celtics 
29. Phoenix Suns (from Cleveland via Utah) 
30. Los Angeles Clippers (from Oklahoma City)

2025 NBA Draft top prospects

There is absolutely no question who is going to go first in the 2025 NBA Draft, with Cooper Flagg having been the leading light in his class for a long while now. 

Flagg is a two-way forward capable of making things happen on both ends of the court, regarded as the most well-rounded prospect in recent history, and the Duke graduate is the only player the Dallas Mavericks have worked out, cementing his place as the imminent number-one pick. 

Rutgers guard Dylan Harper seems to have lifted his head above the crowd to be considered the clear second-best talent in the class and he is set to join Victor Wembanyama on the Spurs. 

Behind the top two are a sea of exciting prospects. Athletic dynamo Ace Bailey is a livewire who demands the ball, shoots at a high volume and, while representing a potential risk, has a seemingly high ceiling. In contrast, Flagg’s Duke teammate Kon Knueppel is more rounded than Bailey, shooting with great efficiency but perhaps lacking as high an upside, meaning it will come down to team preference where these top prospects end up. 

Three-point maestro Tre Johnson, defensive general VJ Edgecombe and 3-and-D wing Carter Bryant help make up a deep draft class and there are plenty of potential NBA superstars heading to the Barclays Center this week. 

NBA Draft history

The first NBA Draft was conducted in 1947 following the league’s inaugural season. It has been every year since then, albeit with various modifications.

In 1966 the draft lottery was established and thus the ‘66 selection process continues to be recognized as the first modern NBA Draft.

Through 1984 it involved only the worst teams in their respective conferences. Those two teams would go head-to-head in a coin flip, with the winner earning the rights to the No. 1 overall pick.

Beginning in 1985, the NBA Board of Governors expanded the lottery to all teams that missed the playoffs in the preceding season.

In 1985 the lottery determined the draft order of every single non-playoff team.

Starting in 1986 the lottery determined only the first three selections. The remaining spots for both non-playoff teams and playoff teams were based on record.

There have been minor tweaks on a number of occasions relating to the number of spots determined by the lottery and the odds a certain team in the NBA standings has of getting a certain draft pick.

The last change came in 2017, when the NBA Board of Governors expanded the lottery to the first four spots in the draft and assigned the same odds of winning the No. 1 pick (14 per cent) to each of the three worst teams in the league. 

The Atlanta Hawks picked Zaccharie Risacher with the number-one pick in 2024 and Cooper Flagg looks set to go first this time around.