2025 NBA Draft Reactions (Part 2)
The NBA draft has come and gone, but the outfits can be remembered forever. In truth though, most of these outfits probably won't be remembered forever. I hope to forget most of them by next week.
Preamble
The NBA draft consists of two sessions this year: one on June 25th and one on June 26th. You may be unsurprised to learn that the first round will be on the first day and the second round is on the second day. (The 2024 draft was like this too.)
While I hope that this leads to twice as many green room attendees, and thus at least a 50% increase in draft day outfits; in actuality the NBA nearly doubled the day 1 green room (24 attendees, usually around 12–15), and had an additional 8 attendees on day 2. Once again, I have an unavoidable conflict during day 1 of the draft (Valkyries home game against the New York Liberty), but I will do my best.
Second round (31–59)
Draft order is per the NBA.
Teams without a second round pick: Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks
I missed the walk-in for the second round, if it was even televised.
31 - MIN → PHX - Rasheer Fleming
We’ve got a black suit with thin lapels, black shirt, no tie. A single-breasted suit!
Adam Silver is actually pretty tall, so when he does the photos with the newly drafted players he looks pretty close in height. However, deputy commissioner Mark Tatum is not quite as tall, so he looks rather little compared to all of the draftees.
32 - BOS → ORL - Noah Penda
Malika is such an excellent facilitator. I aspire to keep meetings on track with the grace that she keeps these panels on track. I also aspire to have a binder of notes like hers.
Slick dark grey and white pinstriped suit, pretty thick as pinstripes go. Maybe these are just stripes? His lapels, hems, and pockets have a white bias. Because of the white bias tape, his pants also look a bit like the fanciest Adidas track pants. He appears to be wearing a plain black undershirt of some kind. Is it better or worse to wear a t-shirt or a long-sleeve shirt under a blazer?
33 - CHA - Sion James
It seems like he might not be at the draft.
34 - CHA - Ryan Kalkbrenner
He’s also not here. I’m actually a little surprised by that; he was a pretty successful college player. ESPN does at least have a video package on him.
35 - PHI - Johni Broome
It’s a little hard to tell, but I think he might be wearing a forest green double-breasted suit with a white shirt and no tie.
36 - BKN → LAL - Adou Thiero
He is on the phone, probably with his agent.
Another all-black outfit: Black jacket, black shirt, no tie.
His mom was in the WNBA! She was drafted by the Mystics! We love second-generation pros with WNBA moms.
37 - DET - Chaz Lanier
While Jay Bilas was saying “Detroit is getting an excellent shooter” the graphic on TV merely said “good shooter.”
38 - SAS → IND - Kam Jones
I think Kam Jones might be wearing more of a jacket than a suit jacket. It appears to be a black jacket with the KISS logo on the back, plus he’s wearing leather pants. This is not a conventional draft outfit, but I respect it.
In his interview, he shouts out his little nephew, who immediately began hamming it up for the camera. Super cute.
39 - TOR - Alijah Martin
Ohhhh we’ve got a bedazzled jacket!
Alijah Martin is wearing a double-breasted white satin jacket with a white band collar shirt. I have not gotten a clear look at the back, but the back of his jacket has something on it in rhinestones, possibly his initials? I’ve learned a lot about Nehru collars vs Mandarin collars vs band collars in the last few minutes.
40 - WAS → NOP - Micah Peavy
Micah is wearing a navy suit with some kind of texture, maybe? He’s also wearing a white band-collared shirt. He also appears to be wearing a Prada belt.
41 - GSW → PHX - Koby Brea
Koby Brea is wearing either a tan or light grey single-breasted suit with a white shirt and a skinny black tie. He looks like he is going to go to a nice summer wedding.
42 - SAC - Maxime Raynaud
He doesn’t appear to be at the draft.
43 - UTA - Jamir Watkins
I don’t think he’s at the draft?
44 - OKC - Brooks Barnhizer
He is not at the draft.
45 - CHI → LAL → MIN - Rocco Zikarsky
This is a Mad Max name if I’ve ever heard one. He is not at the draft, but the ESPN highlights indicate that he might be the youngest and tallest person out there with a mullet.
46 - ORL → BOS - Amari Williams
He is not here.
47 - MIL - Bogoljub Marković
He is wearing a single-breasted navy suit or maybe a black suit with a white shirt. His pocket has a white bias.
48 - MEM - Javon Small
Ohhhh this is an outfit. Javon Small is wearing a brat green single-breasted suit jacket with a black shirt and chain. Someone at his table is wearing the same shade of green; didn’t get a good look.
49 - CLE - Tyrese Proctor
Congratulations to the young man for being drafted during a FreeStyle Libre 3 commercial.
50 - NYK → LAC - Kobe Sanders
Spike Lee is now heckling the ESPN desk over their (correct!) assertion that the Knicks currently don’t have a head coach.
Kobe Sanders is not present but ESPN did have a limited highlight package for him.
Shams has just announced that the Knicks traded the pick. The camera flipped back to Spike, who shrugged very theatrically. He’s doing a great physical comedy workshop.
51 - LAC → NYK - Mohamed Diawara
He is not present and there are no highlights.
52 - PHX → GSW - Alex Toohey
Described as “being in a Cedi Osman mode” which does not exactly inspire confidence. It’s just about noon in Sydney, so hopefully they can give him a call right away.
Bob Myers mentions that the room that the Warriors appear to be in for the draft is larger than the room that they used during his time as GM.
53 - UTA - John Tonje
Not in the room!
54 - IND - Taelon Peter
Also not in the room.
55 - LAL → CHI - Lachlan Olbrich
Another Australian player! He is also not in the room.
56 - MEM → GSW - Will Richard
He’s got a highlight package at least!
57 - ORL → BOS - Max Shulga
Not at the draft, has a highlight package.
58 - CLE - Saliou Niang
He’s at the draft! He appears to be wearing a black suit jacket and a black shirt with no tie. Seems like the Cavs will stash him.
59 - HOU → GSW → MEM - Jahmai Mashack
He is not present. Mark Tatum signs off.
No 60th pick due to Knicks shenanigans.
Of the invitees, it looks like just Izan Almansa wasn’t drafted.
Day 2 bonus fits
VJ Edgecombe is calling in from a hotel room in Philadelphia. He is wearing his 76ers draft hat and a Sixers exercise-material longsleeve.
Bonus fits: Spike Lee is here, wearing another Knicks-themed outfit. He’s wearing a t-shirt that says “New York Knicks Basketball” and a Knicks hat.
Mark Tatum is wearing a normal business outfit. I suppose this is a relatively normal business day for him.
Lasting thoughts from 2024 draft night
I can’t believe I watched the 2023 draft while on BART. I can’t believe I watched the 2024 draft while huddled in the corner of a convention center. I can’t believe I’m going to watch the 2025 draft on the way to a Valkyries game.
Last year I kept saying that I didn’t think I would remember any of the outfits from the 2024 draft, and I did not. Even when re-reading last year’s piece in order to clean the content out of the template, I did not remember very much of it. This does seem to track with how history will remember the 2024 draft, unfortunately.
My least favorite draft outfit throughout my years of “covering” the draft is still Corey Kispert’s baby blue double-breasted suit in 2021. While a few of this year’s draftees looked like they were headed to a meeting in the financial district, Corey Kispert looked like he was making a quick pit stop en route to the polo club.
Thanks for spending this week with me in the blog mines! I’m going to take an unspecified amount of time off from blogging. Actually, we have a couple more silly little pieces in progress, so as always, we will be back sometime kind of soon. Bye!