Ryan Kalkbrenner 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Ryan Kalkbrenner 2025 NBA Draft Profile

We are exactly one month away from the 2025 NBA Draft! Today, we will be previewing Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, one of the most productive big men in the nation! Let’s jump right into it!

Height (no shoes): 7’1″ (7’6″ wingspan, 9’4″ standing reach)

Weight: 257.4

Draft Age: 23.4

Position: Big

Kalkbrenner spent all five seasons at Creighton, becoming one of the most accomplished players in Big East conference history.

He originally joined Creighton out of Trinity Catholic High School in St. Louis, Mo. He was a four-star recruit and a near-top-100 player in the 2020 recruiting class. Kalkbrenner chose Creighton over Kansas, Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois, according to 247sports.

Over his five-year career, he averaged 14.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game on 68.5 percent true shooting. In 39 games last season, Kalkbrenner was a first-team All-American, posting Big East bests in blocks (2.7), rebounds (8.7) and field goal percentage (65.3) while averaging 19.2 points.

The 7-footer won not one, not two … but FOUR Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards, becoming only the second player in Big East history to accomplish that (Patrick Ewing). He’s the conference all-time leader in blocked shots, field goal percentage and field goal makes.

Strengths:

At 7-foot-1 with a 7-foot-6 wingspan and 9-foot-4 standing reach, Kalkbrenner’s a mountain.

He was one of the nation’s most dominant players around the rim. Offensively, he was excellent around the rim with both hands, leading the country in made dunks (107), 26 more than any other player. Kalkbrenner was also 79.5 percent on non-dunk attempts at the rim, the second-best percentage in Division-I (min. 150 attempts), according to Barttorvik.

He was a massive target in the low post with strong hands and a wide catch radius. Kalkbrenner has pretty good footwork and did a good job sealing off smaller defenders who either fronted him or were glued to his back.

Kalkbrenner was one of the best (and most willing) screeners in this class. He set some pretty illegal ones that weren’t called. But Kalkbrenner did a good job of holding screens at the point-of-contact when he was set, and leveraged his screening into being a quality rim-runner.

Defensively, the 23-year-old was a dominant shot-blocker and rim deterrent. His accolades speak for themselves. His verticality was among the best I’ve evaluated for a big. He stayed straight up in isolated contests and had excellent coordination whenever opposing players tried to shoot over or around him.

Kalkbrenner only averaged 1.8 fouls per 75 possessions as a senior (compared to 3.5 blocks), an absurdly low mark. Being able to block (or deter) shots at that high of a clip without fouling is incredibly valuable. He had good timing around the rim when tested and didn’t bite on pump fakes.

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Weaknesses:

That said, the lauded center has some pretty glaring weaknesses.

First off, he’s a super stiff mover. I oftentimes made jokes about him moving like a 50-year-old speed walking at 6 a.m. That’s what it looks like when he’s moving up and down the hardwood. Kalkbrenner’s lateral foot speed is very slow and one of the reasons why he strictly played deep drop.

You obviously want to keep the nation’s best rim protector around he rim, but his foot speed (or lack thereof) prevented him from defending well in space or at the level of the screen. It was the same concern I had about Zach Edey heading into last year’s draft, but I trust Kalkbrenner’s defensive upside way more than I did (or do) Edey’s.

One of my biggest pre-draft pet peeves is when people overreact to players shooting in an open gym. Did Kalkbrenner shoot the ball well at the combine? Yes. Did that translate to success in-game? No. He shot a career-best 34.4 percent from deep last year–albeit on low volume–but he’s a career 31.1 percent 3-point shooter on low volume.

His long-range shooting can get there; he doesn’t have poor mechanics, but it’s far more theoretical than practical right now. He has a slow release and was a decent free-throw shooter. He can still improve, but it’s going to take time.

Kalkbrenner had a bad habit of immediately posting up near the rim if the roll wasn’t immediately open. That’s a bad habit he’ll have to cut down because he currently doesn’t have enough core strength to rely on that consistently against NBA-caliber athletes. It also clogs the paint; he must do a better job navigating the dunker spots or short corners instead of immediately turning his back to the basket.

The All-American was a good-not-great passer at his time, though I’m not completely sold that he will be an effective short-roll or low-post playmaker right away. I think there’s potential there, but I’m not buying stock quite yet.

Projection: Late First, Early Second

I think Ryan Kalkbrenner will be a quality backup big. There’s a world where he becomes a long-term starter. I dislike watching him move, but he’s such an effective rim protector and play finisher. The majority of NBA bigs are strong rim runners, which he’s a perfect fit for. Any team from pick Nos. 25-40 needing a big to fill 15-20 minutes a night as a rookie, he’s your guy.

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