16. Detroit Pistons - Eric Dailey
UCLA - 6'8" - PF/SF
I know this pick might seem like a reach. But again, this part of the draft there's like 10+ different guys who you could say is possibly the best player available. In my opinion, Dailey is one of them. And I think he's a good fit in Detroit.
You draft Dailey and groom him to eventually take over for Tobias Harris as the starting power forward. Dailey is a similar player to Harris. And Harris seems like a vet who (especially getting up there in age at 33) wouldn't mind mentoring his eventual replacement.
Whoever Detroit gets has to be able to shoot the basketball. There's quite a few guys there who have shooting concerns or they don't shoot threes at all (Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland, Jalen Duren, etc.) so you need someone here who can shoot.
Detroit turned their franchise around last season with a tough, gritty, defense oriented style of play. So ideally they draft someone who can fit that. While Dailey isn't an elite defender, he is a capable one and I think he can get even better on that end - especially on a team where he won't be asked to be a main focal point of the offense.
17. Boston Celtics - Patrick Ngongba
Duke - 6'10" - Center
Ngongba is one of the guys in the conversation for best player available here. And I like the fit for him in Boston. When we look at the Celtics roster, there's some obvious questions about who their long term starting center will be but they have plenty of talent at the other positions. Makes sense here to go with a big man.
Once Ngongba is developed enough and ready, the vision is you could possibly start him at the five alongside Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and either Payton Pritchard or Anfernee Simons. That's a lineup that can do some serious damage - especially if Ngonga reaches his ceiling.
Ngonga has some shooting upside but he isn't a shooting big per se. That's alright though, since the Celtics have so much shooting on the rest of their roster. And we've seen guys like Robert Williams and Luke Kornet play effective roles in Boston as non-shooting bigs.
The two common traits that all of the effective bigs the Celtics have had in recent years (Williams, Kornet, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis) share is they can all pass and they can all defend. Ngongba checks both of those boxes.
Patrick Ngongba’s ability to play as an offensive hub is wildly impressive, especially for a big. His timing and placement as a passer is elite, with 23 assists to just 7 turnovers this season. He is in a great position to solidify himself as a 1st round pick this year.… pic.twitter.com/9mSoIsokNF
— Quinn Fishburne (@QuinnFishburne) August 1, 2025
Especially with the recent news that Tatum has been hired as Duke's Chief Basketball Officer, I'm sure that the Celtics will be paying close attention to Ngongba this season. If he's available when Boston is on the clock (and if he is able to stay healthy enough this season) it could be a perfect match.
18. Oklahoma City Thunder - Nikolas Khamenia
Duke - 6'7" - Wing
This is an interesting pick. As I'm sure we all know, OKC is pretty much loaded at every position. I think eventually it might get too expensive to keep all of their guys together with the amount of money they're gonna pay their big three (Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren) so Isaiah Hartenstein may be a guy who's contract needs to get moved. But they just drafted a big man in the 2025 draft (Thomas Sorber) to hopefully fill that void.
I think they have enough guards, especially with Nikola Topic waiting in the wings. Bottom line, I figured that when in doubt, go with the guy who a) has a case as the best player available and b) fits the way the Thunder plays. And that's guys who have high feel, high basketball IQ, can dribble/pass/shoot, play read/react basketball, who play unselfishly and compete on defense.
The player on the board who most closely fits that is Khamenia. It didn't really work with Gordon Hayward in OKC. But they got him for a reason. Because he fits that mold. And Khamenia - if he pans out - could be a similar player to Hayward. At least after the injuries took away some of Hayward's explosiveness.
19. Dallas Mavericks - Tahaad Pettiford
Auburn - 6'1" - PG
It's the 19th pick and Pettiford is currently the 19th ranked player on my big board so that checks out. Fit-wise, I like it a lot. The main thing Dallas needs at this point is a long term answer at point guard. Kyrie Irving is getting up there in age and is recovering from a torn ACL. D'Angelo Russell is a temporary solution there - not a long term one.
Which brings us to a few available players in the conversation for best player available who play point guard: Pettiford, Neoklis Avdalas and Bennett Stirtz. Avdalas is out because I'm not quite sold that he'll be a point guard at the NBA level. He pretty much only played as a wing last season in Greece. He played point guard this past summer for Greece's U20 team but that was a small sample size of games and the FIBA youth tournaments are often not the best context for evaluating prospects.
I like Pettiford here over Stirtz for a couple of reasons. One is I buy the shooting more with Pettiford. He's got a quicker release on his shot, more range on shot and a better, smoother pull-up jumper. And I think shooting is important in this pick for Dallas since their bigs aren't really shooters (Gafford, Lively. Davis isn't a great shooter). Flagg is a good shooter but not a great one. I think this team needs more shooting.
Pettiford is also about two years younger than Stirtz so he has more room for growth/development. Lastly, the idea of Pettiford learning from Kyrie Irving and being mentored by Irving - having Irving show Pettiford the ropes and teach him some moves is very intriguing.
20. Atlanta Hawks - Shon Abaev
Cincinnati - 6'8" - Wing
This one was a tough pick. At this point (especially after I already drafted Karim Lopez for them in this mock) they don't need much. They're pretty deep all over the roster. I figure best player available is either Abaev, Dame Sarr or Bennett Stirtz. Stirtz isn't an ideal fit because playing him and Trae Young together would be tricky since they both need the ball in their hands to be effective and neither is a good defender.
So it's either Abaev or Sarr. I went with Abaev because he's a better, more consistent shooter. I am much more confident that Abaev will be able to shoot the ball at the NBA level than Sarr. And whoever they go with here is likely just going to be a role player who comes in off the bench. So I think the safer pick is the guy you know can come in off the bench and hit open shots.
Also, I think Abaev is the better ball handler and shot creator which is a plus since outside of Young, the Hawks don't have a lot of other guys who can break down a defense off the dribble and create.
Lastly, while Atlanta is pretty deep at each position, I like that Abaev has the versatility to play the two or the three. He could even play the one if need be at times - which he did in high school.