The 2025 NBA Draft first round is officially over, as two Rutgers Basketball players were selected within the top five picks as Dylan Harper was selected No. 2 overall by the San Antonio Spurs and Ace Bailey was selected No. 5 overall by the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
With the first round officially over, several sportsbooks have already begun to release their betting odds for future NBA honors, including the 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year award. Both Harper and Bailey are amongst the top of the odds group per FanDuel Sportsbook to win said award.
You can see the top list of contenders below.
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- Cooper Flagg (+175)
- Tre Johnson (+700)
- Ace Bailey (+750)
- Dylan Harper (+1200)
- VJ Edgecombe (+2500)
- Derik Queen (+3000)
- Jeremiah Fears (+3500)
Despite Cooper Flagg leading the way here odds wise, Ace Bailey might have a little bit of an advantage early on as the Dallas Mavericks are a much better team than the Utah Jazz and they also have a few more mouths to feed with Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, and others expected to lead the team.
Meanwhile on the Utah Jazz, they saw some serious struggles last year and this might allow Bailey to get a little bit more of a green light when it comes to shooting the ball. The Jazz as a whole last season weren't very good, especially on the offensive end as they finished among the bottom 10 in points per games and posted a 111.2 offensive rating, that ranked them 24th out of the 30 total NBA teams.
There's also a little bit of a sleeper pick for the award in new San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper, since he will be joining arguably the best team amongst the early draft picks. The Spurs have a lineup that features several stars such as Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox, along with this past season's several key contributors in Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and several others. Now that backcourt might get a little crowded down there in San Antonio, but Harper's versatility to play either on or off the ball should help him to carve out a role early on. The lone downside here is that the San Antonio Spurs won the Rookie of the Year award in each of the past two seasons with Wembanyama and Castle each winning one of their own. While it's not impossible to win three in a row, there will be a push from some not to give the franchise another one.
Only will tell how this one plays out, but it is possible that one of the now former Scarlet Knights could walk away with some hardware in just their first season of the NBA.
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