International basketball prospect Ben Saraf just recently declared for the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft. The Israeli guard informed ESPN of his career move on Friday.
According to Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports, Saraf is a player that the Miami Heat organization is already quite familiar with. Allegedly, the Heat have done “extensive homework” on Saraf with the start of the 2025 NBA Draft still a ways away.
“I’ve heard the HEAT have done extensive homework on Ben Saraf,” Sylvander wrote on Thursday.
Saraf could very well get selected in the first round of June’s draft. A recent mock draft from Bleacher Report has the Minnesota Timberwolves drafting the youngster with the No. 17 overall pick.
It’s of note that whether or not the Heat will have a lottery pick in the draft is still undecided, as Miami is still fighting for a spot in the 2025 NBA Playoffs by virtue of the play-in tournament.
Miami won its first play-in game over the Chicago Bulls but has to pick up another victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday in order to secure the No. 8 seed in the East and a date with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.
If the Heat make the playoffs, they won’t have control of their first-round pick this year. They’re guaranteed, however, to have at least one first-round pick this year, as they’ll have the Golden State Warriors’ first-round selection.
Saraf, 19, is a 6-foot-6 guard currently playing in Germany.
The rationale for the Heat using a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on a guard is evident when factoring in how the Terry Rozier era has gone in Miami.
Rozier just had a brutal regular season with the Heat in which he averaged just 10.6 points per game while shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from deep. The former University of Louisville standout even saw himself get benched throughout the season.
Now that Saraf is certainly heading to the 2025 NBA Draft with the announcement he made on Friday, he is a name to remember for Heat fans as the draft inches closer and closer in the coming weeks. The start of the draft is just over two months away, set for June 25.
