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NBA summer league is often a tiny blip in the grand scheme of a player's career (or the fate of a draft class), but the NBA's annual gathering in Las Vegas again served as a showcase for incoming rookies, who debuted their talents in front of the league over an 11-day span.
During the course of the 76-game schedule in Las Vegas, the environment for evaluation was imperfect. It was a chance for players to leave an impression, however, and a forum where a team's front office could begin the work of understanding how each player fits.
In the wake of the 2024 NBA draft -- one that was scrutinized by all 30 teams and went down to draft night with little palpable consensus for the top picks, including the Atlanta Hawks drafting Zaccharie Risacher at No. 1 -- we took the pulse of the league, feeling out early opinions after the majority of the rookie class took the floor in Vegas.
ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo polled 20 NBA executives and scouts, asking for their predictions and opinions on the league's incoming rookies. And we scoped out the executives' thoughts on how they liked the NBA's first two-day draft and which player will be the No. 1 pick in 2025 in what is already shaping up to be a talent-rich draft.
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Rookie of the Year | Biggest reach | Best pick
Two-day draft format | No. 1 pick in 2025