The Sixers pick third in the 2025 NBA draft, so you may be dismayed to read numerous sources declaring that superstar Duke forward Cooper Flagg and outstanding Rutgers guard Dylan Harper are the only two sure things in this draft.
But fear not, Sixers fans. Because I promise you there will be more stars in this draft than Flagg and Harper.
We’re watching an NBA Finals right now where both teams’ franchise players were drafted outside the top 10 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was 11th in 2018, Tyrese Haliburton was 12th in 2020). While we’re at it, Finals MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard were both picked 15th. Eight of the 15 players who made the three All-NBA teams this season were drafted outside the top 10.
It’s Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and the front office’s job to evaluate Ace Bailey, VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, Kon Knueppel and everyone else and find the future star. Of course, that’s the hard part and smart front offices get these picks wrong repeatedly. That’s the nature of evaluating human beings and the intangibles you can’t measure at a combine. But it is the task at hand.
The secret sauce in getting the draft right is to separate players thought to be in similar tiers and find the star. Just ask the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had two shots at Stephen Curry in the 2009 draft and took Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn instead.
Someone who gets drafted after No. 2 this season will blossom into a star player. The Sixers just have to find him. And history proves it could be a player outside the top 5 in every mock draft you’ll read.
So, broaden your horizons a bit and watch some of the players outside that consensus top 5, because chances are that “consensus” won’t look remotely the same in a couple of years.
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