Draft Prep Mode: Offseason Priorities for Lottery-Level Lead Guards
What the 2025 Draft’s Top Lead Guards Need to Sharpen This Offseason
The 2024–2025 college season is officially in the books, and we’re now just a few weeks out from the NBA Draft Lottery—an event that’s shaping up to be one of the most consequential in recent memory, particularly for the teams angling for a shot at Cooper Flagg.
In this article, I wanted to take a different approach and evaluate some of the lead guard prospects through my lens as a skills trainer. Before stepping into my current role as an NBA Draft Analyst, I spent several years working in player development—training athletes at every level, from middle school to EuroLeague pros, including a few NBA guys I lived and worked with during full seasons. That background gives me a slightly different perspective when assessing what a prospect needs to prioritize during the pre-draft process.
Dylan Harper is widely viewed as the top lead guard in this class and is considered a near lock to go No. 2 behind Flagg, but there’s real uncertainty around who the next best initiator is—it’s very much in the eyes of the beholder. The players I’ll cover here are all widely considered lottery-range prospects and could realistically go anywhere from as high as No. 3 to No. 14, depending on how the lottery shakes out.
This breakdown focuses on the guards who have officially declared for the 2025 NBA Draft and outlines what I believe should be their offseason blueprint.
The early entry deadline is April 26th, with players having until June 15th to withdraw and return to college or back overseas, so while more names will be rolling in over the next few days, this list focuses on those who are officially in.
Dylan Harper
Rutgers
Freshman
Combo Guard
6’6” | 215
Age on draft night: 19.3
Projected to be the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Dylan Harper enters the pre-draft process with a strong case as the top guard in the class. Listed at 6'6", Harper brings excellent positional size, feel, and a downhill game that consistently puts pressure on the rim. He averaged 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game in his freshman season at Rutgers, showing the ability to create offense with power drives, body control, and crafty finishes around the rim. Harper shot a scorching 67% at the rim and flashed real touch as a catch-and-shoot threat—knocking down 39% of his catch-and-shoot jumpers and 36.8% on catch-and-shoot threes. He’s physical, poised, and plays with the kind of cadence that allows him to dictate tempo against most guards.
But for Harper to take that next leap—into true three-level scorer territory—he’s got to address the off-the-dribble shooting. He took 212 jump shots this season, 150 of which were pull-ups, and connected on just 28% from mid-range and 29% from three off the bounce.