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Jalen Brunson — the reigning NBA Finals MVP, a man who should never have to pay for his own dinner in Manhattan again — was a second-round pick. So were Nikola Jokic, Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green and if you want to go back, there’s Manu Ginobili, Marc Gasol and many more players who slipped to the second round, then had impressive NBA careers.
There will be players taken in Wednesday night’s second round who will become key parts of their team’s rotation and maybe more. Let’s grade these picks (and note, my grading in this round is more gentle and on a curve compared to the first round; expectations are relatively low, and with that, the misses are not painful like missing in the lottery).
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(Check out the grades for the first round picks here.)
Bruce Thornton (31)
The only reason Thornton is in the second round is that he is an even 6’0″, undersized for a point guard. Everything else screams NBA rotation player: He’s incredibly polished, strong, efficiently scored from everywhere on the floor and averaged 19.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists last season for Ohio State. Houston is a perfect fit for a guy who can come in and play behind Fred VanVleet (something the Rockets did not have last year).
Richie Saunders (32)
. It shows you how much the Grizzlies like Saunders that he tore his ACL in February, and they still took him here (he would have gone in the first round if healthy). Saunders is a quality shooter (37.6% from 3 last season) who can do enough of everything else that he looks like he can be a solid rotation wing player in the NBA.
Isaiah Evans (33), Trey Kaufman-Renn (59)
Evans is a quality movement shooter about to play with Nikola Jokic — he will find Evans if the Duke star gets open. He’s got good size (6’6″) but needs to get stronger and become a better defender to earn steady NBA run. Kaufman-Renn has NBA size (6’8″) and physicality, but he’s got to show he has the skills to stick at the next level.
Meleek Thomas (34)
Cleveland is betting on Thomas’ upside. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school who slid a little but still averaged 15.6 points a game last season…
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Publish date : 2026-06-25 05:28:00
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