NBA Draft bold predictions: Ace Bailey falls out of top five, plus who will be the biggest steal?

We're getting bold before the 2025 NBA Draft gets started on Wednesday

The 2025 NBA Draft is nearly here. The two-day affair kicks off Wednesday night in New York. Duke sensation Cooper Flagg is a certainty to go to the Mavericks with the No. 1 pick. Dylan Harper from Rutgers appears like he's heading to the Spurs with the No. 2 overall selection. After that? The first round should get interesting.

With plenty of first-round uncertainty out there, we're going to get bold. Below are four bold predictions for the 2025 NBA Draft from three CBS Sports experts.

Ace Bailey falls to No. 6

Once viewed as the consensus No. 3 player in the 2025 draft class and projected widely to be the No. 3 pick by many as recently as a few weeks ago, there's a very real chance Ace Bailey falls out of the top five entirely. He's wrapping up a puzzling pre-draft circuit in which he has canceled a meeting with the 76ers (who pick No. 3) and so far declined to meet with the Hornets and Jazz (who pick No. 4 and No. 5, respectively).

The belief in NBA circles is that his camp is trying to steer him to the Wizards (who pick No. 6), Pelicans (who pick No. 7) or Nets (who pick No. 8). We'll see if that comes to pass and how that plays out soon. If he doesn't go in the top four we could see a team try to make a move up the board to go get him, and frankly I don't think he's completely out of play for any of the teams at 3, 4 or 5. We've seen teams pick players before who didn't work out or meet with them. But given the momentum of this situation my prediction is that he slips out of the top five entirely and lands at No. 6 with Washington. -- Kyle Boone

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Colin Ward-Henninger

Will Riley will be the steal of the draft

I'm seeing Riley, an Illinois small forward, in the 20s in most mock drafts, and I legitimately think he is a top-10 talent. His range is unlimited and he shoots it with confidence, while he's also shown flashes of some advanced playmaking -- finding shooters with one-handed zip passes off of penetration. He has a midrange game and the basketball IQ that makes him a smart cutter and connective passer. Of course there are defensive questions given his slight frame (6-foot-8, 186 pounds), but he profiles to be a strong enough offensive talent to make him a net positive player. In five years we could be wondering how he dropped so far. -- Colin Ward-Henninger

The Spurs will try to draft a center

How could that be when they already have Victor Wembanyama and very little floor-spacing around him? Well, if Wemby prefers to play the 4, AD style, then pairing him with another big man may just be what the Spurs do here. It's probably no coincidence that Khaman Maluch's representation allowed him to return for a second workout recently, even though there's very little chance that he's still on the board when the Spurs pick again at 14 (after they pick at No. 2). While there's been a lot of speculation surrounding trades involving San Antonio's second pick, I'm told there's a better chance they look to move up from 14 to target Maluach, while simultaneously staying put at two. If they can't move, look for someone like Joan Beringer to be a possibility if he's still on the board at 14. If they can't get either, then at that point they may focus on a spacing wing like Cedric Coward or Liam McNeeley. -- Adam Finkelstein

Nique Clifford will finish top-three in ROY voting

Here's a post-Draft bold prediction. And this isn't just because I love Clifford's game and think he's a vastly underrated prospect, which I obviously do. This is also a bit of a logical selection based on Clifford's age (23) making him more ready to contribute immediately than some of his 18- and 19-year-old cohorts. He's also likely going to be drafted in the mid-to-late first round, which means the team that selects him will probably at least attempt to be competitive next season. So when he puts up the monster stat lines he's capable of producing (triple-doubles aren't out of the question), they'll be in games that actually mean something, which voters tend to value. For all those reasons, Clifford should have a legitimate shot to be in the Rookie of the Year race all season long. -- Colin Ward-Henninger