2025 NBA Draft breaks surprising record despite transfer portal dominance

The transfer portal in the college basketball world has brought up a lot of talk about one-and-dones being over.

With the 2025 NBA Draft well underway, that is not the case.

The event started with the Dallas Mavericks selecting Duke superstar Cooper Flagg at No. 1, the San Antonio Spurs selecting Rutgers guard Dylan Harper at No. 2 and the Philadelphia 76ers selecting Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe at No. 3.

Those moves were followed by: Charlotte Hornets selecting Duke star Kon Knueppel with the 4th pick; the Utah Jazz selecting Rutgers forward No. 5 in Ace Bailey; the Washington Wizards picking a standout guard from Texas in Tre Johnson; and the Pelicans selecting a standout SEC guard at No. 7 in Jeremiah Fears. 

The Brooklyn Nets then broke a record by selecting BYU star Egor Demin.

2025 NBA DRAFT HQ: Live tracker | Pick-by-pick grades | Best players available

The first eight picks in this draft were all freshmen in college this past season. That breaks the 2017 record of seven freshmen drafted in a row to start the NBA draft.

In total, 12 of the 14 lottery picks were freshmen. That also marks a record for the most in the lottery era.

A lot of people in the basketball world have spoken about how one-and-dones are quickly evaporating, but that was not the case on Wednesday night in the Barclays Center.

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