With more than a month of NBA basketball under their belts, the 2025 rookie class is revealing more and more about itself. Some players cooled off from their hot starts and others are steadily rising, but one thing is certain — the 2025 rookie class is still as promising as ever.
For our third NBA Rookie Ladder of the season, let’s rank all rookies (playing at least 15 minutes per game) by their play this season. As a reminder, the tier placement for each player matters more than the exact rankings in those tiers and this ladder covers a rookie’s current performance, not their long-term outlook.
* = currently injured
Impact NBA Players
Dylan Harper
Kon Knueppel
Cooper Flagg
Collin Murray-Boyles
Will Richard
Positive Play By Rookie Standards
Ryan Kalkbrenner
Derik Queen
Cedric Coward
Sion James
Jeremiah Fears
Tre Johnson*
VJ Edgecombe
Ace Bailey
Flashes/Inconsistent Play
Kobe Sanders
Danny Wolf
Drake Powell
Ryan Nembhard
Walter Clayton Jr.
Nique Clifford
Egor Demin
Maxime Raynaud
Caleb Love
Micah Peavy
Ben Saraf
Cedric Coward
Following a hot start to his NBA career, Coward’s performance has regressed some as he’s settled in for the Memphis Grizzlies. Across his previous 10 games, he’s averaging 11.2 pointson 47.4 percent true shooting while making 27.5 percent of his triples. In his first 12 games, Coward averaged 14.5 points on 65.7 percent true shooting, including 40 percent beyond the arc.
Beyond enduring some natural shooting variance, Coward’s adjusting to commanding usage at the NBA level, especially considering his lack of college experience against high-major competition. During his final full collegiate season at Eastern Washington, he logged 49 total pick-and-roll ball-handler possessions, according to Synergy. He’s up to 48 possessions already through 22 NBA games, feeling the growing pains from adjusting to a new role.
These reps and mistakes will benefit Coward down the road, tuning his instincts and honing his skills to the tune of the NBA. He’s flashed some creation intrigue, applying his midrange scoring flashes from his time as a post-centric scorer in college. Pairing soft touch and fluid movement skills on the wing helps him find soft spots and fire over defenders.
Cedric Coward pullup middies pic.twitter.com/0136cPL2gV
— bjpfclips (@bjpfclips) December 5, 2025
Even through his offensive slump, I’ve still enjoyed his defensive effort, leaning on his 7-foot-2 wingspan as a point-of-attack defender. Only six rookies, including Coward, are currently posting positive Defensive Estimted Plus-Minus marks. He’ll likely fluctuate on both ends throughout his rookie season but Memphis didn’t spend a lottery pick on Coward solely for his rookie performance. The first act of his career includes some signals he could return lottery value, even in a strong class.
Ace Bailey
Bailey entered the 2025 NBA Draft as one of its most divisive prospects, with skeptics doubting his penchant for difficult shot-taking. How would a player like him, who relished tough pull-up jumpers, translate to an NBA where quick decisions and off-ball play matter more than ever? Fortunately, the Utah Jazz provided a nearly perfect offensive context.
Head coach Will Hardy hasn’t forced Bailey away from his midrange goodness, still attempting 3.9 non-rim twos per 75 possessions. Unlike his Rutgers offense where Bailey often had to create offense by himself, he’s had no troubles scaling his shot-creation down. In college, teammates assisted 27.2 percent of his midrange shots but that’s ballooned to 75 percent in the pros.
Motion, speed and decisiveness pervade his game as a rookie. He’s averaging 1.98 seconds per touch, the fourth-shortest touch time among rookies and the shortest among all wings. Bailey’s 4.0 potential assists per minute place him in the 97th percentile positionally, relating to his staggeringly low seven percent on-ball rate.
ace bailey has unsurprisingly thrived as a quick-hitting offensive option in utah, notching an average touch time under 2 seconds (very low for a wing). love how decisively he’s playing right now
looks great as a driver off the catch, handoff shooter and basic passer pic.twitter.com/RrBs90PbSL
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) December 5, 2025
He has plenty of room to grow as a slasher on the ball and, especially, as a defender but the ball isn’t sticking in his hands. The early evolution of Bailey’s offensive process allows him to average 14.2 points on 65.7 percent true shooting across his previous 10 games. For now, his offensive arrow points firmly upward.
Will Richard
I regret waiting this long to spotlight Richard, who’s featured in the Golden State Warriors’ rotation since the start of the season. The former Florida Gator is this season’s second-round wing who instantly helps an NBA rotation, far exceeding the average 56th overall pick in early impact. Even older rookies usually struggle from the start but Richard’s 3-and-D merits were immediately apparent.
His 6-foot-3 frame, 6-foot-10 wingspan and veteran instincts fuel an impactful defensive start to his career, placing in the 80th percentile or higher in steals (2.4), deflections (5.6), offensive fouls drawn (0.6) and stops (3.2) per 100 possessions. Gigantic, mobile arms allow Richard to guard above his height while maintaining the agility of a shorter player.
Will Richard with sublime screen navigation to force the TO, leads to Moody attacking and getting a layup. pic.twitter.com/YVtZrdO11N
— Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) December 5, 2025
Offensively, he fits the profile of an intelligent, low-usage spacer (8.9 percent on-ball rate), canning 38.5 percent of his 3.3 triples per game, scoring on remarkable efficiency overall (plus-8.2 relative true shooting). He’s a keeper for a Warriors offense that relies on sharp decision-makers who thrivers as off-ball movers, injecting energy into the lineup whenever he enters the game.
Ryan Kalkbrenner
Among 317 qualifying NBA players this season, Kalkbrenner leads the league in true shooting (82.1 percent) at a ghastly 24.1 percent above league average. No player averaging 20-plus minutes per game has ever finished a season above 80 percent true shooting. The Charlotte Hornets’ second-round rookie center probably won’t either but he’s converting a staggering 82.1 percent of his shots at the rim.
His impact at the basket extends to the defensive side of the ball, ranking in the 96th percentile league-wide in block rate (6.1 percent) while holding opponents 9.6 percent below their average on his contests at the rim. When Charlotte parks Kalkbrenner at the basket, his excellent length and timing wall off the rim. He’s vulnerable to explosive athletes and struggles in space at times but he’s stellar in the paint.
Playing with several talented playmakers, including fellow rookies Kon Knueppel and Sion James, inflates his rim percentages, as does playing with LaMelo Ball. Kalkbrenner’s gaudy statisticts likely return to earth at some point but he’s providing acceptable center play and a definite bright spot amid a rocky Hornets season.
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