2025 NBA Mock Draft: Northwest Division

The Northwest Division has a massive ocean between its best team and its worst team. The OKC Thunder won the championship, and the Utah Jazz were dead last in the NBA. The 2025 NBA Draft will present the teams of the Northwest division a chance to rebuild or reinforce their cores. Draft Nation will be covering which prospects best suit each teams’ needs:

Utah Jazz

Despite being the worst team in the NBA, the Utah Jazz only have the 5th overall pick in this year’s draft. The Lauri Markkanen-led Jazz have promising young players, but, outside of Walker Kessler, the majority still need several years of development before they can contribute. The Jazz are going to need to draft the best player available and focus on developing the young core they are creating.

Jeremiah Fears (PG/Guard, Oklahoma) is a truly boom-or-bust prospect. At 6’2” 179 lbs., Fears has one of the best handles in the draft. Throw in incredible acceleration and speed, and you’re cooking with gas. When he’s in rhythm and using his lightning first step, Fears is the best scorer in the draft class. Fears is only 18 years old and one of the youngest prospects available so his deceleration and finishing moves are a work in progress. 

If Fears can more consistently hit his threes and adds more weight to keep his durability up, then he has the potential to be a truly special scorer at the NBA level. This will take him several years of work, and the Jazz would need to be patient, but Fears had the passing, the scoring, and the confidence to be the lead point guard for them. Keyonte George did well this past year, but he may be more comfortable being a shooting guard next to someone like Fears.

Kon Knueppel (SF/Wing, Duke) isn’t an elite athlete like Ace Bailey or VJ Edgecombe. He’s fairly average athletically. However, at 19 years old, Knueppel has an incredibly polished game that stretches the floor, connects the offense, and always makes the right decision. At 6’5” 219 lbs. with a 6’6” wingspan, Knueppel may not have elite agility, but his bruising frame is utilized to the fullest extent on defense and offense. Additionally, Knueppel shot a blistering 40.6% from deep on 5.3 attempts a game.

The Jazz could utilize a corner shooter like Knueppel, who has shown flashes that he can continue to develop as a ball handler and passer. The Jazz do have several wing prospects, but Knueppel’s fundamentals are good enough that he can play heavy minutes alongside starters like Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, and Walker Kessler. Knueppel has a clear development path to being a good starting small forward for the Jazz.

Portland Trail Blazers

After trading away Anfernee Simons, it’s clear the Blazers want to rebuild the team around the guard duo of Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. Other prospects like Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan have had great development in only a couple of years. The Blazers would do best by getting another high-upside big to help solidify their backcourt.

Noa Essengue (PF/Big, Ratiopharm Ulm) averaged 23.8 minutes per game this past year playing for the German Ratiopharm Ulm in the 2025 Euro Cup. The Euro Cup is the basketball equivalent of soccer’s Champions League. While facing the top teams in all of Europe, the 6’10” 204 lb. big man has averaged 12.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, and 1.4 SPG. Essengue has stepped away from his team as they compete in the finals of Germany's BBL. Essengue is only 18 years old but despite that has been playing and winning against former NBA players and European stars for the past year.

Essengue is still lean and has been thrown around by veteran big men in Europe. However, he often is back on his feet and confidently bumping and poking those same bigs off their dribble the next play. Essengue is still very raw and needs to improve his decision-making, handling, passes, and defensive reads. But having an 18-year-old who, despite his flaws, heavily contributed to a European team’s international success is tantalizing. 

Ace Bailey (SF/Wing, Rutgers) shouldn’t fall this far in the draft, but if the rumors about skipping workouts are true, there’s a chance he will fall to pick 11 in the NBA Draft. If he does, the Blazers could get an All-NBA player considering Bailey’s potential. 

At 6’7” 202 lbs. with a 7’ 0” wingspan, Bailey doesn’t sound unique. However, Bailey has truly special athleticism that allows him to stay low and stay with speedy guards, and the springiness to provide rim-protection from small forward. Offensively, Bailey has shown he can shoot off the bounce, making 34.6% from deep on 4.5 attempts per game. He also uses his speed to keep defenders from staying too close to him. Bailey does have very poor shot selection but part of this can be chalked up to Rutgers only having one other major offensive threat in Dylan Harper. Whether Bailey can adapt and increase his passing to better teammates in the NBA is a question. But it’s a question the Blazers would gladly ask every day if the potential answer is a star two-way Wing.

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference Finals in back to back years. All the Timberwolves need now are more role players to get them over the hump and to deal with the aging of players like Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert.

Nique Clifford (SF/Wing, Colorado State), at 6’5”, 202 lb., is one of the most pro-ready NBA players in this year’s draft. He has a great feel for where to be and when to be there on both offense and defense. Clifford is an above average but streaky deep threat, shooting 37.7% from deep on 4.9 attempts per game. Overall, Clifford has passing chops, experimented with being the primary ball handler this past year, and has a nose for rebounding. With a 6’ 8” wingspan, Clifford projects not as an elite defender but has shown he can certainly be a reliable above average defender.

Clifford is already 23 years old entering the draft and realistically doesn’t have much more room to grow. He can continue to improve the small details, but he has squeezed the majority of his potential out on the court. This means that the Timberwolves would be maximizing their championship window right now instead of in a few years. Look to Malcom Brogdon to see what career path Clifford could ideally take. Brogdon came out of college 24 years old and won rookie of the year, being the 6th man for the Pacers. After that, Brogdon did develop further into an average starter, but that was his ceiling. 

Collin Murray-Boyles (PF/Big, South Carolina) won’t shoot the three-ball efficiently anytime soon. He won’t have to since the Timberwolves already have Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Edwards, old Mike Conley and Naz Reid stretching the floor. That much space makes the paint look incredibly appetizing for a player like CMB. 

At 6’6”, 239 lbs. with a 7’0” wingspan, CMB is a blend of big and wing in the body of a bruising heavyweight boxer. CMB’s bread is his pick setting, post up heavy, offense and his butter is his high motor, ball stripping, defense. CMB is insurance in case Julius Randle doesn’t take his player option on June 29th. He also would be a major spark plug off the bench even if Randle stays in Minnesota.

Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets have zero picks in this year’s draft. Instead, they need to look to free agency to find help for Nikola Jokić. This past year was filled with too many times when Jokić had to step up and carry the offense on his back. The Nuggets need to find players who can help Jokić stay fresh and healthy as he ages.

Outside the Draft, the Nuggets have a trade piece in Michael Porter Jr. Porter is a solid floor spacing three, but is getting paid 38 million dollars next year. Unfortunately, teams that want to compete need to be extremely efficient with how they spend their money. This is why former general manager Calvin Booth was fired. Booth let key veterans like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown leave in free agency. Instead, Booth tried to draft players who could develop. Only Christian Braun has developed into a solid piece for the Nuggets.

Domantas Sabonis (29 Y/O, PF/Big) is a possibility too. If the Nuggets package Michael Porter Jr, Zeke Nnaji they would have enough money to match Sabonis’ 42-million-dollar salary. The Nuggets would need to use several future pick swaps or even throw in promising prospect Peyton Watson to get the deal done, but the Kings desperately need spacing long-term. Michael Porter Jr. is only 26 years old, so the Kings would have a younger volume deep threat and the chance to pick high.

This move bets on Jokić being healthy for the next several years. If Jokić goes down, then it’s unclear if Sabonis and Jamal Murray could get the team into the playoffs. But if Jokić is healthy, then Sabonis can move back over to Power Forward and the Nuggets have an All-Star caliber two-way big. Aaron Gordon could move to small forward, and the Nuggets would have a massive lineup that not only can defend better but can give Jokić a more traditional post-scorer to pass to.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The OKC Thunder have won their championship and now need to look to next year and their title defense. The Thunder have a massive gaggle of first-round picks over the next several years and could pull off a draft strategy that didn’t work for the Nuggets.

Liam McNeeley (SF/Wing, UConn) - is a solid catch-and-shoot threat with good off-ball movement. McNeeley needs a lot of work to be a rotational player on a championship team. McNeeley needs to work heavily on his defensive IQ and learn how to squeeze the most out of his average athleticism. McNeeley also struggles on drives and decision making once he has to handle. At only 19 years old, McNeeley has time to develop these skills and become the same sharpshooter people see when he shot 43.1% on catch-and-shoot threes this past year.

The Thunder will need to re-sign both Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams in two years. When that happens, the Thunder will already have 150 million dollars on the books while still needing to sign two max-extension type players. This means McNeeley can step in when the Thunder need to shed rotation players like Isaiah Hartenstein to free up cap space. 

Joan Beringer (PF/Big, Cedevita Olimpija) is a very raw big man. Currently, Beringer has no jumper, doesn’t pass much at all, and only really lives off a diet of timed cuts and lobs off pick-and-rolls. However, on defense, Beringer has incredible mobility for a big of his size and is a major shot blocker.

A player like Beringer would be great to draft and develop behind guys like Chet Holmgren. Both Beringer and Holmgren are lanky long bigs with great mobility. Having a role model like Holmgren who Beringer can work out next to, practice next to, and play next to will give him the blueprint for how he can use his elite athleticism.