Jay Bilas Confirms There Was a Lot of Crying On the NBA Draft's First Night

Tears were flowing in Brooklyn.
Khaman Maluach stands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the tenth pick by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center.
Khaman Maluach stands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the tenth pick by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The NBA draft has turned into a two-night affair because there's just too much emotion to be contained in a single night. Anyone who watched the first round on Wednesday night is spent emotionally after watching athlete after athlete break down and give us the waterworks after their selection. And make no mistake about it, it's stuff like this that makes sports great. Seeing someone realize a lifelong dream against impossible odds is incredibly moving and if you can't cry on draft night then what's the point?

Even still, this year's parade of picks was even more emotional than usual with a lot of future NBA stars, role players and two-way options breaking out the tears.

"This was the most crying I've ever seen at the draft," Bilas told Scott Van Pelt on a late-night SportsCenter hit.

Bilas also picked up on the trend the night.

"I don't say this a joke," he observed. "I don't remember a draft being this emotional. This is has been the most emotional first round. This is my 23rd draft, there's never been this many tears. Except when I needed to use the restroom midway through the second round."

Again, there's more of this to come on Thursday night. Just because a player goes in the second round doesn't make it any less personally moving.


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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.


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