Golden State Warriors select Koby Brea in 2025 NBA Draft, trade to Phoenix Suns

The Golden State Warriors have selected former Kentucky guard Koby Brea with the No. 41 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, trading the pick to the Phoenix Suns. Brea transferred to Kentucky last offseason after spending four years at Dayton.

In his lone campaign in Lexington, Brea made 36 appearances and 16 starts. He averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 47.0% from the field and 43.5% from beyond the arc.

Brea had the ninth-best 3-point percentage in the country. It wasn’t due to a lack of volume, either. Brea shot 5.9 3-pointers per game. Brea’s hot-handed season at Kentucky wasn’t a fluke.

The 6-foot-7 guard was a marksman from range during his entire collegiate career. He shot a nation-high 49.8% from downtown during the 2023-24 season, his final year at Dayton.

“I don’t know, you are hard-pressed to make a real cogent argument that he’s not the best shooter in the country, it’s just ridiculous,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said of Brea in January. “The way he shoots it, how he gets it off, where he shoots it, how high he shoots it.”

Koby Brea played high school basketball at Monsignor Scanlan (NY), where he was an unranked prospect in the 2020 recruiting cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Alas, Brea was tabbed a Second-Team All-New York selection his senior year.

What NBA Draft experts are saying about Koby Brea

Experts believe Brea’s elite shooting ability could translate to the next level. Ahead of the draft, RotoWire.com provided an in-depth analysis of Brea’s game.

“Brea’s identity is 3-point shooting and as a college player, 71.9% of his field-goal attempts were 3-pointers (he made 43.4% of them),” the analysis read. “During his final two seasons, he made 46.5%. His 3-point shooting was elite and his teams ran plays specifically to get Brea open, particularly with him flying around off-ball screens.

“An adept pump-fake also helped free him from defenders, and he can dive inside and take the occasional mid-range shot. The other aspects of Brea’s game are all secondary and could use further development.”

Despite potential weaknesses in Brea’s game, team’s always can find roster spots for shooters. And NBA teams will be hard-pressed to find a more proven threat from deep than Brea. Now, the sharpshooter will look to put his talents to the test on basketball’s biggest stage.