2025 NBA Draft: Top 5 forwards ft. Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey 

Over the next few weeks, we’ll divide the strong 2025 draft into position groups. Given the fluid, ever-evolving modern game of basketball, it can be challenging to demarcate positions. Still, it can be useful to group prospects based on the role(s) they project to fill at the NBA level.

Corresponding with our mock draft simulator, we’ll use the six positions available there, starting with the forward spot. For this exercise, forwards will include players who would fit the traditional schemas for “small forwards” and “power forwards.” These prospects play on the wing but have the versatility to move up and play on the interior in some spots, whether due to their offensive or defensive skills. You wouldn’t necessarily want to slide these players down to the guard spot, though.

Examples of this kind of player in the NBA include Pascal Siakam, Jaden McDaniels, and Jeremy Sochan. All three are big and tall enough to play the four in many lineups, and the latter two provide strong interior defense for their roles. McDaniels and Sochan have notable limitations for consistently playing on the wing. These are lineup-fluid players, usually with versatility on one or both ends, leaning more toward the “big” side.

It’s impossible to perfectly capture every aspect of basketball in position groupings like these. Some players will fit into multiple groups and one can argue which group a prospect should fit in. Knowing we’re doing our best here, let’s rank the top five forward prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft (with some honorable mentions at the end).

1. Cooper Flagg, Duke

Flagg represents a consummate forward prospect — 6’9 with a near endless two-way toolkit unlocking creative, versatile lineup and role deployment. He most clearly fits the “forward” archetype on the defensive end, as Flagg can shut down the perimeter and dominate as help side shot blocker. Teams won’t want Flagg as their full-time center (though his future team should try that out), but he’ll defend the interior at as high a level as possible from the perimeter.

At the moment, Flagg’s ball control limits his ability to initiate offense. That hasn’t stopped him from becoming the best player in college basketball as Duke’s primary initiator, though. In today’s NBA, forward-sized players, like Siakam, often act as teams’ main offensive options. Versatility will be a hallmark of Flagg’s game, as he can attack as a driver, spot-up shooter and post scorer.

Cooper Flagg is one of one and is the best player in the class by a long shot. Source: Imagn

His malleability will help Flagg’s future team mold their foundation around him, with Flagg fitting whichever holes his squad can’t fill otherwise. Gigantic players who shoot, pass, score and defend at high levels are the future of the NBA and Flagg fits that mold as the surefire top pick in the 2025 draft.

2. Ace Bailey, Rutgers

Bailey’s archetype on offense may appear more perimeter-centric than many “forwards,” but his NBA role may look quite different from his Rutgers application. Rutgers asks Bailey to function as a primary creator, initiating offense from the perimeter frequently. At the NBA level, his lack of passing (0.5 assist-to-turnover ratio, 1.2 assists per game) and slashing (15.6% half-court rim frequency) could lend him to a more off-ball-centric role in the pros.

At 6’10 Bailey will have the size to play the three and the four depending on the lineup. He’s a special shotmaking talent and his best moments come as an off-ball shooter, where Bailey sprints off of screens to hit shots before defenses can react. That’s a rare and valuable trait for a player of Bailey’s size.

His defensive profile slants towards the interior, as Bailey’s weak-side rim protection potential (4.2% block rate) lets him defend as a four. With more experience and strength development, it’s easy to imagine Bailey developing into a fearsome interior defender with the versatility to defend some wings on the perimeter while adding secondary paint defense.

3. Noa Essengue, Ratiopharm Ulm

The second-youngest player in the draft (behind Flagg), Essengue’s future NBA role isn’t clear. Essengue stands at 6’10 with a gargantuan 9’3 standing reach, which should easily let him play on the interior at the NBA level. Despite his general rawness, Essengue already impacts winning with his physical tools, mostly on the defensive end.

Essengue sports rare mobility for a player as tall as him with the foot speed and agility to switch out onto the perimeter. His defensive profile fits him as more of a wing than a forward given his point-of-attack prowess and average shot-blocking production (2.9% block rate), but Essengue’s size should allow for interior versatility as he adds strength and matures physically and mentally.

Noa Essengue is the 2nd youngest player in the draft and is a top 5 forward in the 2025 NBA Draft class - Source: Getty

It’s easiest to imagine Essengue’s future offensive role revolving around his paint scoring, buoyed by his excellent 63% free-throw rate. While Essengue will always rely on his elite physical tools to succeed on offense, he’ll need to improve his jumper and touch at the rim (50% on layups) to play on the perimeter at the NBA level.

4. Noah Penda, Le Mans Sarthe Basket

Penda has been one of the French League’s best defenders this season, creating turnovers (3% steal rate, 4.6% block rate) at a high clip. At 6’8, 225 with a reported 7-foot wingspan, Penda’s intersection of strength, length and mobility help him defend in multiple positions, whether as a primary on-ball defender or weak-side rim protector.

Few 20-year-olds, especially those playing against professionals, command the back line as Penda does. He’ll often communicate with teammates, quarterbacking his defense by calling out rotations and covering gaps himself. His interior defensive prowess makes Penda a viable interior defender at the NBA level.

Offense will be Penda’s main swing side of the ball, but he projects as a solid off-ball option with some creation upside. He’ll need to improve his outside shot to thrive on the perimeter (32.8% on 3 3-pointers per game), but Penda’s intelligent spacing, feel for the game and driving flashes could suggest some latent creation upside.

5. Alex Karaban, UConn

The 6’8 Karaban is one of the draft’s premier shooting talents, converting 37.7% of his 9.9 threes per 100 possessions across his college career. He’ll spend most of his time on offense playing on the outside, leveraging his shooting in off-screen and handoff situations. His height will let Karaban score some on the interior, even if he’s not a particularly powerful or explosive athlete.

Karaban’s defensive progression this season helps him slot into the “forward” category. He’s upped his rim protection this season, boosting his block rate from 2.6% as a freshman and 2.8% as a sophomore to 5.8% this season. Shot-blocking improvement will help teams feel more confident in Karaban sliding to the four and defending the paint in certain lineups.

Offensive versatility will form the foundation of Karaban’s prospect case. Teams won’t need to think much about how to integrate a tall, knockdown shooter who makes smart decisions into their offensive scheme, whether as a perimeter player in taller lineups or as a four-in smaller one.

Honorable Mentions: Carter Bryant, Adou Thiero, Joshua Jefferson