Asa Newell 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Asa Newell 2025 NBA Draft Profile

We are less than three weeks away from the 2025 NBA Draft! Today, we will be previewing Georgia big man Asa Newell! Let’s not waste any more time and jump right into it!

Height (no shoes): 6’9 (6’11.25 wingspan, 8’11.5 standing reach)

Weight: 223.8

Draft Age: 19.7

Position: Big

As a five-star recruit out of Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., Newell was a top-20 prospect in the 2024 recruiting class. He was teammates with Derik Queen, Liam McNeeley and Cooper Flagg, the unquestioned No. 1 overall pick. He chose the Bulldogs over Texas, Florida, Baylor, Michigan, Indiana, Alabama and Auburn, among others, according to 247sports.

In his lone season at Georgia, Newell averaged 15.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, one steal and one block per game, shooting 54.3 percent from the floor with a true-shooting percentage of 61.2 percent. Newell helped lead a subpar Georgia team to a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, losing in their first game to Gonzaga. He finished with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds and one assist.

Strengths:

My favorite trait of Newell’s game is his relentless motor. He doesn’t move like any other near-7-footer, and I think the combine proved that. The NBA listed him as a forward, and among the 29 listed forwards, he logged the seventh-fastest lane agility time and fifth-fastest shuttle run. Both of his times cleared every big by a wide margin.

He ran the floor exceptionally well and was always active on the offensive glass. His 13.9 offensive rebounding percentage was the fourth-best mark in the SEC; it placed in the 96th percentile of all forwards and centers who were shorter than 7-feet, according to Stathead.

Newell was an excellent play finisher, converting on 77.0 percent of his attempts around the rim, according to Barttorvik. He’s a springy athlete (36.5-inch max vert) with strong hands; if he had better guard play, he would’ve been more of a vertical spacer than he was. The 19-year-old was also very good at roaming the dunker spot and cutting (and reacting) into open space off-ball.

While he shot just 29.2 percent from 3-point range on the season, Newell’s willingness to shoot improved throughout the season. Over his last 10 games, he shot 34.3 percent from beyond the arc on 3.5 attempts per game. The rock had a knuckleball rotation out of his hands, but his 74.8 free-throw percentage indicates there’s improvement on the horizon. The mechanics look good enough to translate, he just needs to get more comfortable with it.

Defensively, Newell is one of the most switchable bigs in this class. He moved well laterally and had fluid hips–holding his own against smaller ballhandlers. He wasn’t overly disruptive, but did a good job staying in front with solid discipline, even though he didn’t always sink into his lower half as much as I would’ve liked.

Weaknesses:

Newell’s biggest weakness was physicality–or lack thereof. He did a better job playing through physicality later in the season, but at 6-foot-11, 225-pounds, he still has room to fill out the rest of his frame. He must improve his upper-body strength and his core strength so he doesn’t get dislodged by stronger 4/5s, like he did in his lone season at Georgia.

Thus, he projects to be more of a 4 than a 5 at the next level. In today’s pace-and-space era, his shot will need to translate. It will take time. Modern-day 4s need to be able to consistently take-and-make 3s, unless they play in an offense where there’s five-out spacing.

As good of an offensive rebounder as he was, Newell was a poor defensive rebounder. He hauled down just 13.5 percent of available defensive rebounds, ranking in the 20th percentile of forwards and centers shorter than 7-foot and in the 10th percentile of those taller than 6-foot-8.

I think there’s more playmaking chops than his negative assist-to-turnover ratio indicates. I was encouraged with how he reacted out of Georgia’s hi-low sets out of the high-post. But Newell wasn’t a good short-roll playmaker and has below-average ball skills with questionable passing accuracy at times.

Liam McNeeley 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Projection: Lottery Pick

I am a big fan of Newell’s motor. Every player’s skill is different, but a player having a strong motor is a good sign that they will improve long-term. His all-around game improved throughout the season, and if that arrow continues to traject upward, I think he has top-10 upside. Newell’s skillset is that of a modern-day 5, but I think he’ll begin his NBA career as a 4 because of his frame. Arguably his biggest swing skill is his shooting, and if he can find a way to be a consistently efficient shooter, I think he’ll have a long, successful NBA career.

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