Fans of lottery-bound NBA teams will be keeping a close on the bottom of the league’s standings down the stretch because of the effect that “race” will have on the draft order and lottery odds for the 2025 first round.
However, it’s not just the first round of the draft that’s worth keeping an eye on. Those reverse standings will also dictate the order of the draft’s second round, and an early second-round pick can be nearly as valuable as a first-rounder.
[RELATED: Traded Second-Round Picks For 2025 NBA Draft]
Here are a few of the traded 2025 draft picks that will land near the top of the second round:
From: Washington Wizards
To: Boston Celtics
Current projection: No. 31
The Celtics are the defending champions and one of the biggest threats to win the NBA’s 2025 championship. They also have the league’s third-highest payroll. Teams in that position are generally running a draft-pick deficit, having gone all-in to fortify their roster, but that’s not the case in Boston, where the Celtics control their own first-rounder (currently projected to be No. 28) along with this Wizards second-rounder that could be the best day-two selection in this year’s draft.
The Wizards originally traded swap rights to their 2025 second-round pick during the 2021 offseason as part of the five-team blockbuster that netted them Spencer Dinwiddie, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, among others.
Those swap rights changed hands a few times and eventually got tied up with a handful of other swaps. The Celtics acquired them in the 2023 offseason from the Pistons as part of a deal that saw them down six spots in the draft from No. 25 to No. 31 (Detroit used the 25th pick on Marcus Sasser).
Boston will technically receive the most favorable of four second-round picks (Washington’s, Golden State’s, Dallas’, and Detroit’s), but there’s no chance that won’t be the Wizards’ selection.
From: Utah Jazz
To: Minnesota Timberwolves
Current projection: No. 32
While the Lakers made a run to the Western Conference Finals later that season, it’s hard to argue that the Timberwolves didn’t ultimately get the best of the three-team 2023 deadline deal with Los Angeles and Utah that saw them land Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, two players who continue to play major roles in Minnesota.
As part of that three-team trade, which allowed the Jazz to acquire the Lakers’ top-four protected 2027 first-round pick, Minnesota received multiple second-round picks from Utah, including this year’s selection.
Like the Celtics, the Timberwolves have one of the NBA’s highest payrolls, so this extra second-round pick should come in handy for an organization looking to keep its tax bill in check next season — drafting a player in the second round and signing him to a rookie-minimum contract (or something close to it) is the most effective way for a team to limit the cap/tax impact of a roster spot.
From: New Orleans Pelicans
To: Charlotte Hornets
Current projection: No. 34
It has been a long, winding road for this second-round pick, which was – sort of – first sent to Memphis in a three-team 2021 trade. That deal, which also included Charlotte, saw New Orleans acquire Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte’ Graham, and the draft rights to Trey Murphy.
The Pelicans actually included the Lakers’ top-10 protected 2022 first-round pick in that trade, but because it landed in its protected range in ’22 (eighth overall), New Orleans instead owed the Grizzlies a pair of second-rounders, one of which was this 2025 selection.
From there, the Grizzlies traded the Pelicans’ 2025 second-rounder to the Suns in 2023 as part of a package for pick swaps; Phoenix flipped it to the Spurs a few days later as part of a Cameron Payne salary dump; and San Antonio brought it full circle by sending it to Charlotte in a salary dump of Graham during the 2024 offseason.
At the time of that last trade between the Spurs and Hornets, Graham was in the final season of the four-year contract he received as part of the sign-and-trade agreement that sent him from Charlotte to New Orleans in the original 2021 deal. The Hornets traded away Graham and didn’t get the 2025 Pelicans pick in that initial transaction, but ultimately ended up with both last summer (they subsequently waived Graham).
Of course, when the Spurs attached this pick to Graham’s contract to get out of his modest $2.85MM partial guarantee, they couldn’t have known things would go so bad in New Orleans that this pick would land in the mid-30s. Their loss will be the Hornets’ gain. Charlotte also controls its own second-rounder and is currently on track to pick at both 33 and 34.
From: Toronto Raptors
To: Detroit Pistons
Current projection: No. 35/36
The Raptors are tied in the standings with Brooklyn and have the league’s easiest remaining schedule, so it’s possible this pick could move from the mid-30s into the late-30s. It’ll still be a valuable asset for the Pistons, who will almost certainly lose their own first-round pick, making this their highest selection in the 2025 draft.
This Raptors pick was one of three second-rounders Detroit acquired from Dallas in last summer’s Tim Hardaway Jr./Quentin Grimes swap. The Mavericks had previously acquired it from the Spurs as part of the three-team sign-and-trade deal for Grant Williams in 2023. San Antonio, in turn, acquired it from Toronto in the Jakob Poeltl trade between the two teams earlier that year.
Given their spot near the bottom of the NBA’s standings, the Raptors would certainly prefer to still have their own second-round pick, but they’ll have a pretty favorable alternative — they control Portland’s second-rounder, which currently projects to be No. 40.
The decision comes as no surprise, as Harper has long been considered a strong bet to be one of the first players off the board this June. He ranks second overall on ESPN’s board behind only Duke freshman