The 2025 NBA Draft gets underway Wednesday, and the Dallas Mavericks are expected to go with Duke star Cooper Flagg as the top pick. Flagg — the consensus top player in the draft — will undoubtedly be the first of the 59 players selected during the event.
If something above seems off to you, you’re right. There are two rounds in the NBA Draft and 30 different NBA teams. That should result in 60 names being called over the course of the 2025 NBA Draft, right?
Nope. There are just 59 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. While the first round of the event will contain the usual 30 picks, the second round will feature just 29. Why is that the case? And which team no longer has its second-round pick? Yahoo Sports explains below.
2025 NBA Draft: Why are there 29 picks in the second round?
The New York Knicks are to blame for the missing draft pick. The team had its second-round pick taken away as punishment for tampering with Jalen Brunson ahead of his free agency in 2022.
After spending the first four years of his career with the Dallas Mavericks, Brunson was set to hit free agency following the 2021-22 NBA season. He signed with the Knicks immediately, not even giving the Mavericks a chance to make an offer.
There were a handful of suspicious circumstances surrounding Brunson’s signing. While the guard was reportedly going to meet with a number of teams ahead of free agency, he only met with the Knicks. The team then started to offload money in anticipation of signing Brunson. In addition to that, Brunson’s father, Rick, is an assistant coach with the Knicks. The team’s general manager at the time was Leon Rose, who negotiated Brunson’s rookie contract with the Mavericks.
Rumors about the Knicks’ interest in Brunson reached a point where his exact offer was leaked days before free agency.
All of those factors led to the NBA launching a tampering investigation. Nearly five months later, the league made its ruling. After determining the Knicks “violated league rules governing the timing of this season’s free agency discussions,” the NBA took away the team’s second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
While the Knicks haven’t paid for that pick just yet, it’s tough to imagine losing the No. 56 pick will outweigh the benefit of having Brunson. Since joining the Knicks, Brunson has taken his game to another level. He’s averaging 26.4 points and 6.7 assists with New York.
That performance helped lead the Knicks to three straight playoff appearances. After reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals during Brunson’s first two years with the team, the Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference finals this past season. The team lost in six games to the Indiana Pacers.
After losing their second-round pick, the Knicks will be without a selection in the 2025 NBA Draft. The team traded away its 2025 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in 2024 in a deal for Mikal Bridges and Keita Bates-Diop.
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