Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
When the in Wizards front office said they wanted to build for the future, they didn’t play around again tonight when they picked up Tre Johnson with the 6th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Johnson may have been one of the best first round picks that fits naturally into the young mix they already have. The core of players continues to get younger as last night they sent Jordan Poole to the New Orleans Pelicans for CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick. This helps the Wizards free up some cap space and get moving in the right direction for the second part of this rebuild.
Moving on to the Wizards second pick in the draft. The made some moves sending their 18th pick to the Utah Jazz, who traded pick Nos. 21, 43 and two future second-round picks to the Washington Wizards to move up to No. 18 and take Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr.,
With the 21st pick the Wizards went with Will Riley from Illinois. Riley made some noise in the Big Ten this season, but at just 19 years old, he will have to work on a few things to make an impact for the Wizards in the long term.
Overall, we have to score the Wizards first round picks a B- and most of that is because we really like Tre Johnson. If he is anything like the other players that have come out of Texas in the first round, they should be in good shape with this one. It appears that Wizards General Manager Will Dawkins has his work cut out for the second round, but don’t rule out a few other moves for veteran talent from this team.
Here is the complete First Round Pick List.
First Round
1. Mavericks draft Cooper Flagg (Duke)
2. Spurs draft Dylan Harper (Rutgers)
3. 76ers draft VJ Edgecombe (Baylor)
4. Hornets draft Kon Knueppel (Duke)
5. Jazz draft Ace Bailey (Rutgers)
6. Wizards draft Tre Johnson (Texas)
7. Pelicans draft Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma)
8. Nets draft Egor Demin (BYU)
9. Raptors draft Collin Murray-Boyles (South Carolina)
10. Rockets draft Khaman Maluach (Duke) – Traded to Suns
11. Trail Blazers draft Cedric Coward (Washington State) – Traded to Grizzlies
12. Bulls draft Noa Essengue (Ratiopharm Ulm)
13. Hawks draft Derik Queen (Maryland) – Traded to Pelicans
14. Spurs draft Carter Bryant (Arizona)
15. Thunder draft Thomas Sorber (Georgetown)
16. Grizzlies draft Yang Hansen (Qingdao) – Traded to Trail Blazers
17. Timberwolves draft Joan Beringer (Cedevita Olimpija)
18. Wizards draft Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida) – Traded to Jazz
19. Nets draft Nolan Traoré (Saint-Quentin BB)
20. Heat draft Kasparas Jakučionis (Illinois)
21. Jazz draft Will Riley (Illinois) – Traded to Wizards
22. Hawks draft Drake Powell (North Carolina) – Traded to Nets
23. Pelicans draft Asa Newell (Georgia) – Traded to Hawks
24. Thunder draft Nique Clifford (Colorado State) – Traded to Kings
25. Magic draft Jase Richardson (Michigan State)
26. Nets draft Ben Saraf (Ratiopharm Ulm)
27. Nets draft Danny Wolf (Michigan)
28. Celtics draft Hugo González (Real Madrid)
29. Suns draft Liam McNeeley (Connecticut) – Traded to Hornets
30. Clippers draft Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Penn State)
