The second round of the NBA Draft getting its own specially dedicated night is something I still haven’t quite fully adjusted to, but there’s probably never been a time in league history where the second round was more relevant in producing premier talent than it currently is.
New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson is currently the most obvious example of a second round superhero given what he just accomplished in the Mecca, but you also have a guy like Nikola Jokic, who completely redefined the ceiling for second round picks and proved with relative ease that the best player on the planet absolutely can be someone that scouts overlooked in their youth.
Anyway, that’s a really long-winded way of saying that there’s at least a puncher’s chance that someone who was selected during Wednesday’s second round will one day become a pivotal name in NBA history. Which players have the best shot? I’d say these five, who certainly qualify as the night’s most intriguing selections.
Henri Veesar, Atlanta Hawks (North Carolina)
One of the biggest surprises of Tuesday’s first round was the fact that former North Carolina center Henri Veesar was still on the board at the end of it. In his lone season with the program after transferring from Arizona, Veesar earned second team All-ACC honors by averaging 17 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in addition to 1.2 blocks per game defensively. The Lakers were reportedly hot in pursuit of Veesar on Wednesday after his inexplicable fall into the second round, but the Hawks successfully landed him and will pair him with Houston’s Kingston Flemings as the team continues to navigate life after Trae Young.
Braden Smith, Indiana Pacers (Purdue)
Braden Smith feels like the perfect candidate to become the Draymond Green or Jalen Brunson of this draft, solely in the sense that at one point he was the best player in all of college basketball despite not ever really being highly regarded as an elite professional prospect. Smith is a two-time consensus first-team All-American, the 2025 Big Ten Player of the Year and the 2025 Bob Cousy award winner (given to the nation’s top point guard) and is on a shortlist of all-time great collegiate point guards. He is the all-time assists leader in NCAA history and is a consummate winner, having been part of the third winningest senior class in Big Ten history at Purdue.
Emanuel Sharp, Sacramento Kings (Houston)
Another player who can simply be described as a winning hooper is Houston’s Emanuel Sharp, a 3 & D specialist who was an integral part of a program that reached three Sweet 16s and made a national championship game appearance during Sharp’s time there. Sharp is coming off a senior season where he averaged a career-high 15.5 points and 1.7 rebounds per game, and his addition to a Sacramento Kings rookie class that already includes a bonafide star in Arkansas’s Darius Acuff Jr. and a two-time national champion and fellow sharpshooter in UConn’s Alex Karaban.
Isaiah Evans, Minnesota Timberwolves (Duke)
Like Veesar, Duke sharpshooter Isaiah Evans is another guy who probably should have been taken in the first round but instead got overlooked among the surplus of talent and scoring options available. At 6’6 with a consistent 3-point shooting stroke and reasonable defensive upside, the Minnesota Timberwolves are landing a player who was able to post 15 points a game for the Blue Devils last season while shooting 36 percent from 3-point range and 43 percent from the field overall. The Wolves also reportedly loved Evans at the end of the first round, but we’re able to trade back for additional assets and still land their guy.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie, San Antonio Spurs
One thing the NBA Finals made apparent is that the San Antonio Spurs need ready-made scoring that can deliver off the bench, and the selection of Tennessee’s offensive weapon Ja’Kobi Gillespie at pick 42 is exactly the kind of selection that is a crucial step toward fixing that issue. Gillespie, a Belmont transfer, averaged a career high 18.3 points per game this season and displayed an ability to score from both inside and outside, which makes him an extremely intriguing puzzle piece on a San Antonio roster that’s looking to build on the 62-win conference champion foundation the franchise already has at the moment.
