“LeBron James, Sabrina Ionescu”: Georgia’s Asa Newell answers rapid-fire questions with SLAM ahead of 2025 NBA draft

Georgia forward Asa Newell has declared for the 2025 NBA draft and hopes to be selected. Ahead of the draft, Newell took part in a rapid-fire interview with SLAM Magazine on Tuesday.

An Instagram video showed the 6-foot-11 star answering questions about his favorite player and basketball court in New York City.

Newell named Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James as his favorite NBA player and New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu as his top WNBA player.

The five-star recruit called his former team, 2024 Montverde Academy, the best basketball team. He also praised high school coach Kevin Boyle as the best coach. Newell picked NBA legend Gary Payton as the best defender and Michael Jordan's Air Jordan 4 as the best sneaker.

His go-to pregame hype song is "Greece or Sweden" by NoCap and his favorite movie is "Space Jam." The Bulldogs forward predicted the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the 2026 NBA title and the Las Vegas Aces to take this year's WNBA crown.

Newell named Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero for the best SLAM cover and OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the NBA's most stylish player.

Finally, Newell named Rucker Park as his best basketball court in NYC.

Asa Newell to become first Georgia player selected in NBA draft after Anthony Edwards

Asa Newell is set to become the first Bulldog player to be picked in the draft after Anthony Edwards.

Edwards was the top pick in the 2020 draft, selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Newell is expected to follow and is projected to be called in the early to middle part of the first round.

A five-star recruit from Montverde Academy, Newell is Georgia's highest-rated prospect since Edwards. He led the Bulldogs to their first March Madness appearance since 2015, averaging 15.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Newell earned SEC All-Freshman honors in his lone season at Georgia.

However, experts remain undecided about where the Florida native will land in the draft, with Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman projecting him as the 12th pick, to be selected by the Chicago Bulls.

ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have Newell as the 18th pick, to be selected by the Washington Wizards.

Meanwhile, Newell will become the third Georgia player to be selected in the first round in the past 20 years, after Edwards and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was selected eighth by the Detroit Pistons in 2013.