Wednesday marked Day Three of the 2025 NBA Combine in Chicago, but more importantly, it was the first day of five-on-five scrimmages. While the top-tier prospects typically opt out of these games, every once in a while you get a Jalen Williams-type breakout—someone who comes in as a borderline first-rounder and plays his way into the lottery. So while you may not catch the projected top-10 names suiting up, these scrimmages are often where the biggest risers emerge.
I was especially looking forward to seeing who could separate themselves this year. My day kicked off with an early interview on The Kevin O’Connor Show for Yahoo, which was a cool moment for me—here’s the link.
In this article, I’m sharing notes from the day: standouts from the five-on-five games, some under-the-radar names who impressed, and a few interesting bits of intel I picked up while making the rounds in Chicago.
