Portland Timbers pick two players in 2025 MLS SuperDraft

The draft happened! Calls were made! Players are coming to Portland! Probably!

Photo Credit: Portland Timbers FC

The 2025 MLS SuperDraft has come and gone, and the Portland Timbers have two new players to their name.

The Timbers selected left back Ian Smith out of the University of Denver with the 14th pick, and goalkeeper Lukas Burns out of Providence College with the 74th pick. Both players will almost certainly spend almost all of, if not the entirety of, the 2025 season on Timbers2 in MLS Next Pro.

Smith, a four-year starter for the Pioneers, totaled six goals and 21 assists from 2021 - 2024. The defender, who hails from Littleton, Colorado, was listed as the fourth best left back prospect by MLS Soccer prior to the draft.

Smith celebrating a goal — that or he’s pointing to where the nearest concession stand is

Burns, originally from the incredibly named Cinnaminson, New Jersey, made 73 appearances during a five-year playing career at Providence.

Burns spreading out his defense after making a save — that or he’s calling for someone to bring him some orange slices

As is customary for almost all draft picks nowadays, both players will have a chance to earn contracts with Timbers2, the Timbers MLS Next Pro developmental team. That has been the path that most of Portland’s draft picks have followed in recent years, with a handful of them earning short-term agreements with the first team for cup games or matches played on short rest.

That’s the path Smith and Burns seem set to follow as well, reinforced by the fact that T2 head coach Serge Dinkota was present in the draft room, along with Timbers Technical Director Jack Dodd Timbers Director of Scouting Nacho Leblic.

The last Timbers draft pick to truly break through was Zac McGraw, and before him the only other major success stories were Jeremy Ebobisse and Darlington Nagbe. Portland has utilized rookies as role players in previous seasons, but by and large the Timbers as an organization don’t put a ton of value into the draft.

It seems like the league’s investment in the draft is diminishing as well. This year there seemed to be significantly less fanfare and coverage around the SuperDraft from MLS and the digital arm of the league than previous years, continuing a trend of a shrinking footprint for the annual college draft.

It remains to be seen what the future of the draft is for MLS. But for the Timbers, they have the rights to two new players who may just get lucky enough to get a shot to play in front of the Timbers Army.