Thinking Basketball's Top 25 Under 25 (2025 edition)

A few weeks ago Ben Taylor and Cody Houdek did their annual 25 under 25 draft, with Ben having the first pick and Cody having the second. The draft was based on how much of a positive contributor these players are now to an NBA team, so factors like potential are ignored. This post has the list of players (including gaps they highlighted between "tiers" of players), notable disagreements about their selections, and other players mentioned or who with hindsight would have been drafted.

I would highly recommend listening to both episodes of the podcast, as in these episodes they go into detail explaining what they considered when making their picks and the justification they had behind their selections (and also they were just fun pods to listen to).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n7zUF7YsuI&ab_channel=MoreThinkingBasketball (part 1: picks 1-9)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLWgJCzy6Y&ab_channel=MoreThinkingBasketball (part 2: picks 9-25)

  1. Victor Wembanyama (Ben) 
  2. Anthony Edwards (Cody) 
  3. Jalen Williams (Ben) 
  4. Chet Holmgren (Cody) 
  5. Tyrese Maxey (Ben) 
  6. Paolo Banchero (Cody) 
  7. Evan Mobley (Ben) 
  8. Franz Wagner (Cody) 
  9. Zion Williamson (Ben) 

Gap in tier of players

  1. Scottie Barnes (Cody) 

  2. Lamelo Ball (Ben)

  3. Tyrese Halliburton (Cody)

  4. Alperen Sengun (Ben) 

  5. Jaylon Johnson (Cody)

  6. Jalen Suggs (Ben)

  7. Cade Cunningham (Cody)

Gap in tier of players 

  1. Derrick Lively (Ben)

  2. Santi Aldama (Cody)

  3. Immanuel Quickly (Ben)

  4. Scottie Pippen Jr. (Cody) 

  5. Keegan Murray (Ben)

  6. Christian Braun (Cody)

  7. Thompson Twins (Ben) 

  8. Cam Thomas (Cody)

  9. Jonathan Kuminga (both) 

Notable discussion points:

  • Players 1-4 and 7 were on the same spot in both of their “boards” (where they would draft them)
  • Cody was much lower on Maxey, having him at 14 on his board. Cody on the following podcast says he was way too low on Maxey and would have him in his top 10.
  • Ben was actually higher on Franz than he was on Banchero. 
  • Cody had no idea where to place Zion
  • Ben was a bit lower on Scottie Barnes
  • Ben initially drafted Sengun 11 but switched with Lamelo. 
  • Ben thought both of Cody’s Grizz picks on Santi and Pippen Jr. were massive reaches and was not considering either.
  • If Ben hadn’t picked both twins, Cody would have taken Amen with his next pick.

Hindsight players that would be on the list:

Trey Murphy III: was brought up by Ben, Cody didn’t have him due to not watching enough Pels games. In the following podcast, both admitted they should have drafted Murphy, with Ben saying he’d take him over Keegan Murray.

Deni Avijda: He was initially picked by Ben but Cody convinced him out of it by pointing out his rough season this year. In the following podcast, Ben says he would have pushed to take him over Kuminga at 25.

Other players mentioned:

Dyson Daniels: was initially 20th on Cody’s board, but didn’t pick him for whatever reason

Cason Wallace: Nearly picked by Ben, good defense, his 3-point shooting was a concern.  

Jaden McDaniels: Nearly picked by Ben, but he talked himself out of it.

RJ Barrett: Mentioned by Cody for spot 25, Ben vetoed.

Jared McCain: Hesitant because of being a rookie.

Andrew Nembhard: Cody likes him, but was not blown away. 

Coby White: Ben was higher on him than Scottie Pippen Jr. Cody was not. 

Jake Laravia: On Cody’s board, not Ben’s. 

Brandon Miller: Potentially great, not everything put together yet.

Bilal Coulibali: Not there yet.

Brandin Podziemski: Would have been interesting last year, this year his shooting is too rough.  

Walker Kessler, Toumani Camara, Jalen Green, and Jaden Ivey were mentioned but were not really considered

Edit for formatting issues