The Dallas Mavericks’ winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery just months after trading away their franchise icon, Luka Dončić, has sparked quite a few conspiracy theories. But it partly played in the hands of the Brooklyn Nets, who ended up with four first-round picks. As a result, one NBA insider believes they are likely to be very active in trade discussions this offseason.
Brooklyn Nets Predicted To Be Very Active in Trade Discussions During 2025 NBA Draft
Brooklyn has a terrific first scoring option in Cam Thomas. However, beyond that, the rest of the roster lacks the scoring punch to sustain consistently excellent offense. While Thomas was enough to win them 26 games, the Nets need more weapons to become consistently sustainable.
With the No. 8 overall pick, they cannot land top-end talent like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper. While the Nets still need to add a couple of rookies, they have five picks in the top 36, which is why ESPN’s Jeremy Woo and Jonathan Givony expect them to be very active during the draft.
The pair predicted the Nets would select Duke’s Kon Knueppel with the No. 8 overall pick before using the No. 19 selection on Joan Beringer out of France. However, Woo noted that the Nets could look to trade away their first two picks.
“This is the second of Brooklyn’s four first-round picks, with the team likely to be very active in trade discussions as it looks to extract value out of its strong position in this draft,” Woo wrote about the Nets possibly selecting Beringer at pick 19. “But Beringer’s long-term upside as a mobile paint protector would make him a nice fit with the Nets, who can afford him the minutes and attention he needs to improve.”
Woo had Brooklyn picking Ben Saraf at No. 26 overall but noted that the Nets could look for a trade here as well since they are also holding the No. 36 pick.
“With five picks in the top 36, the Nets can go in many different directions on draft night,” he added. “They might elect to be a conduit for trades as they are also projected to have more salary cap space this offseason than any other NBA team. They could also take some swings on talent, picking a younger prospect in need of development, aided by minutes and opportunity to play through mistakes.”
Brooklyn took Rasheer Fleming at No. 27 overall, but Woo maintained that they would look to trade two of their top 20 picks to extract value.
PFSN’s Mock Draft Projection For the Nets
None of Woo’s predictions coincided with PFSN’s latest NBA mock draft by Sterling Xie, who predicted the Nets to select Maryland’s Derik Queen at No. 8 overall. Queen stands at 6’10” and 246 pounds, and has an NBA-ready body for any frontcourt, along with advanced handles and a soft touch around the rim.
“Queen is only 20 years old, so it’s a good sign that he’s already able to hang his hat on interior scoring and rebounding,” Xie wrote. “The Nets have a bigger paint-bound center in Nic Claxton, who could provide some of the rim protection that Queen might not supply and make for a well-rounded frontcourt duo.”
Xie projected the Nets to use their No. 19 pick on Michigan’s Danny Wolf, a 7’0” center who excels as a ball-handler and passer while also creating more on-ball than most bigs. Brooklyn took Noa Essengue, the second-youngest player behind Flagg, at pick 26 and used its final first-round selection on Labaron Philon.
