The 2024-25 men’s college basketball season is underway and many of the top prospects are showcasing their skills and utilizing their platforms to state their cases ahead of the 2025 NBA draft.

While the draft is seven months away, we’ve had our eyes on these players for quite some time. From Duke’s Cooper Flagg to Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe to the Rutgers freshman duo of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, there’s a lot to like and write about this deep and talented draft class.

Flagg will make his prime-time debut Tuesday when the Blue Devils take on Kentucky in the Champions Classic (9 p.m. ET, ESPN), making it one of the season’s top nonconference games to watch. It also happens to be the first marquee game for Wildcats coach Mark Pope, who stepped in to replace John Calipari (who moved over to Arkansas).

With the NBA roughly 10 games into its season, ESPN draft experts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo lean on their own scouting and exclusive intel from league executives to inform and guide their latest mock draft, slotting prospects to teams. The first-round order was generated by ESPN’s BPI forecast, which predicts how well all 30 teams will perform during the rest of the season. The order, as updated through the morning of Nov. 11, reflects picks owed and owned via trades.

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First round

1. Washington Wizards

Cooper Flagg, SF/PF, Cooper Flagg

Jonathan Givony: Fans should expect fireworks whenever Cooper Flagg plays

Jonathan Givony breaks down the expectations for Cooper Flagg’s freshman season at Duke.

2. Duke
Freshman

The Utah Jazz (via Minnesota)

BYU
Freshman

The Grizzlies are flush with young talent and could be looking to add more wing depth to their roster, especially players who can defend multiple positions and stretch the floor for Brooklyn Nets (via Phoenix)

UConn
Junior

Golden State is off to a strong start and will be able to bolster its depth with this pick — landing a reliable player such as Karaban in the late first round makes sense in theory.

Karaban returns to lead another strong UConn team in a quest for a third straight NCAA title, and teams know exactly what to expect from him at this point — he’s a quality floor spacer and cutter, smart decision-maker and passer and solid team defender who projects neatly into winning contexts as a low-usage role player.

The Huskies are pushing him to further expand his game this season — after sending four players to the NBA, they will need to source offense creatively — and whatever new elements Karaban can flash from a skill perspective will further enhance his prospects. Regardless, the simple and effective pitch stems from his reliability, intangibles and winning history, making him a good fit almost anywhere. — Woo

28. LA Clippers (via Oklahoma City)

Utah Jazz (via Cleveland)

ESPN BPI projects.

Zikarsky came into this season with significant expectations, but hasn’t made much of a jump to this point in the highly competitive Australian NBL, struggling to get on the floor (10 minutes per game) and not doing enough with his minutes to convince he should be playing more.

The 7-foot-3, 18-year-old is shooting 46% from 2 and has blocked 3 shots in 81 minutes, both figures down significantly from last season. With his Brisbane team trending toward the bottom of the standings, it will be interesting to see if he gets more opportunity as the season moves on and can capitalize with improved play, especially on the defensive end where he has been disappointing. — Givony

Remaining Big Board for the 2025 class

31. Ian Jackson, SG, North Carolina, freshman
32. Dink Pate, SG/SF, Mexico City Capitanes (G League)
33. Caleb Foster, PG, Duke, sophomore
34. Johann Grunloh, C, Rasta Vechta (Germany)
35. Tyrese Proctor, PG, Duke, junior
36. Boogie Fland, PG, Arkansas, freshman
37. Alex Toohey, SF/PF, Sydney (Australia)
38. Joan Beringer, C, Cedevita Olimpija (Slovenia)
39. Kwame Evans Jr., PF, Oregon, sophomore
40. Noah Penda, SF/PF, Le Mans (France)
41. KJ Lewis, SG, Arizona, sophomore
42. Sergio De Larrea, PG/SG, Valencia (Spain)
43. Milan Momcilovic, SF/PF, Iowa State, sophomore
44. Zvonimir Ivisic, PF/C, Arkansas, sophomore
45. Jarin Stevenson, PF, Alabama, sophomore
46. Bogoljub Markovic, PF/C, Mega MIS (Serbia)
47. Dailyn Swain, SG/SF, Xavier, sophomore
48. Kam Jones, PG/SG, Marquette, senior
49. Michael Ajayi, SF/PF, Gonzaga, senior
50. Hunter Sallis, SG, Wake Forest, senior
51. Sion James, SG/SF, Duke, graduate student
52. Ben Henshall, PG/SG, Perth (Australia)
53. Mackenzie Mgbako, SF/PF, Indiana, sophomore
54. Izan Almansa, PF/C, Perth (Australia)
55. Kobe Johnson, SG/SF, UCLA, senior
56. Payton Sandfort, SF, Iowa, senior
57. Koby Brea, SG, Kentucky, senior
58. Ben Humrichous, PF, Illinois, senior
59. Mouhamed Faye, C, Reggio Emilia (Italy)

Note: The New York Knicks forfeited its 2025 second-round pick.