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Every NBA team evaluates draft prospects differently and inevitably come to different conclusions on how these prospects will translate to the professional game and fit on their particular roster. Because of this, every year, certain prospects get drafted higher than mock draft and big board projections.
The 2025 NBA Draft will be no different. There are a number of polarizing prospects that certain teams won't want to touch but other teams could fall in love with. So check out the gallery to see which prospects have the best chance for teams to draft them earlier than expected.
Derik Queen, Maryland
Derik Queen's range of NBA Draft day outcomes is larger than most prospects. Concerns about his defense and streakiness could lead to him being a draft-day faller. However, somebody may fall in love with the flashes of stardom he has shown and draft him higher than expected.
Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper seem to be shoe-ins for the first and second overall picks, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if the Philadelphia 76ers or Charlotte Hornets drafted Queen with picks three or four.
Queen has an advanced skill set on offense. He is 245 pounds and can bang inside, but he also has incredible touch, advanced passing ability, and a solid jump shot. Unlike most big men, he can put the ball on the floor, and his perimeter skill set and all-around finesse could be hard for opposing centers to guard.
The 76ers could use some Joel Embiid insurance as their star center is often hurt. Queen has enough smoothness to his game that he could even play alongside Embiid.
The Hornets are also clearly looking for a new center, as they shopped Mark Williams at the trade deadline, but the Los Angeles Lakers rescinded a deal that would have sent him to the Lakers after Williams failed his physical.
Tre Johnson, Texas
Some teams will evaluate Tre Johnson as a sixth-man sparkplug scorer off the bench. Others will see a 6-foot-6 pure scorer who has the potential to become a first or second option. Johnson averaged 19.9 points per game during his lone season at Texas, which was the most of any freshman this season.
Johnson can score at all three levels of the floor. He is an explosive enough athlete who can get to and finish at the rim effectively, and he also hit 2.7 three-pointers per game at a 39.7% clip. He might be best in the midrange as a pullup shooter, though.
Scoring and positional size are highly coveted in the NBA, which could be enough to incentivize a team to draft Johnson higher than expected. The Texas two-guard is ranked sixth on ClutchPoints' big board, and many mock drafts have him in the six-to-eight range.
Johnson could go as high as pick three, though, as the 76ers appear to be wide open with their selection, especially now that Ace Bailey has canceled his workout with the team.
Egor Demin, BYU
In reality, Egor Demin is probably best suited for a point-forward role. He is 6-foot-9, so his advanced feel and passing ability have led to some thinking he can play the point-guard position at the next level. However, he lacks speed and struggles against defensive pressure. He might not be able to penetrate defenses enough to serve as a lead guard in the NBA.
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Despite this, a team might buy into the idea of him as a jumbo-sized point guard who can lead an offense and provide positional mismatches on a nightly basis.
Demin will be particularly intriguing for a team if they buy into his jump shot. He shot the ball poorly from deep all year at BYU (27.3%), but he shot with confidence and at a decent volume, so he may be a better shooter than the numbers showed.
Demin started to put it together as a shooter during BYU's March Madness run. He hit six 3-pointers in three NCAA Tournament games, including a three 3-point performance against VCU.
An effective long ball could be enough to open up the rest of Demin's offensive game. If a team believes in the shot and is mesmerized by the size, Demin could squeeze into the lottery or even the Top 10.
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
Every year, unheralded NBA prospects shoot up draft boards after impressive March Madness runs. Walter Clayton will be the big riser from the Big Dance this year. Clayton led Florida to the national championship with some huge performances. He scored 134 points in total during the NCAA Tournament.
That included some legendary hot streaks and memorable comeback efforts that happened on the back of his scoring. Clayton is a little bit of a tweener. He doesn't have prototypical size for the two-guard spot, and he isn't a great playmaking point guard. Shooting translates, though, and Clayton shot his way up draft boards while connecting on jumpers from deep in March.
Clayton is a great standstill catch-and-shooter, but he also thrives off movement or off the bounce. With teams more willing than ever to find players on rookie deals who can find a role right away, due to the NBA's CBA financial rules, Clayton has a good chance to be drafted around the lottery despite being an older prospect.
Hunter Sallis, Wake Forrest
Hunter Sallis didn't do much during his first two seasons at Gonzaga, but he burst on to the scene over the last two seasons since transferring to Wake Forrest. The 6-foot-5 guard scored 18-plus points per game in each of the past two seasons. The concern with Sallis is he only shot 27.7% from deep this past season.
However, some teams might think his 40.5% mark from the year prior is a better representation of who he is. If a team believes in the shooting, then Sallis could be selected in the first round.
