Basketball, NBA: Victor Wembanyama and the others: the Top 5 of international talent for the 2023 draft

Jonathan Givony, historical signing of draftexpress.com and now in force at ESPN, has drawn up a list of the most interesting international prospects for the 2023 draft, starting from the French unicorn. Let’s go and discover them together.

1. Victor Wembanyama (wing-center, Metropolitans 92)

Wembanyama, as expected, is having a dominant impact on the national league: in the first 7 games (record 6-1, good for second place in the standings), he traveled to 21.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.9 blocks per average, shooting with 58% from twos and 33% from arc. Scouts highlight a diversity of the game shown in G-League exhibition competitions, due to the structural differences of American and European basketball. In Europe, with smaller spaces available, Wembanyama plays a greater number of possessions near the basket and has lower long-range shooting rates, but its versatility is accentuated. The area with the most gaps is obviously that physics: the slender and slender body does not allow him to acquire a solid defensive rebound position.

2. James Nnaji (center, FC Barcellona)

3. Juan Núñez (playmaker, ratiopharm Ulm)

Il homegrown of Real Madrid has chosen to move to Germany, in the “laboratory” of Ulm, to play a season with minutes and responsibilities, being able to improve also at an international level in Eurocup. In Ulm he is free to freely express his enormous talent and potential, which defines him as the most futuristic point guard in the Old Continent thanks to a unique genius, typical of the great Spanish school of the last twenty years. In Eurocup, Núñez churns out 8.2 assists projected over 40 minutes, extremely interesting numbers also for the variety of situations in which they are made. But, in the face of a strong creativity, it also presents gaps in the construction phase (42% from two and 0/7 from three in Eurocup so far) and in balloon treatmentstained by a large number of turnovers (3.8 in Eurocup).

4. Ryan Rupert (guard-winger, New Zealand Breakers)

The French winger, a product of the INSEP academy, has chosen to start building a career in the Australian championship, and has already become a staple of the New Zealand Breakers, second in the standings with a record of 6-3. A wrist injury will force him into the pits for the next two months, but in these first games of the season he has shown that mix of physical and defensive characteristics which make it perfect to embody a role from 3 & D player. Just under two meters tall, Rupert has a crazy wingspan of 222 cm which allows him to put enormous pressure on the perimeter and work on the passing lines. He will have to work on his shot from outside, because after the excellent impressions in the pre-season (10/16) he is struggling in the league (only 4/20).

5. Ousmane Ndiaye (Center, Baskonia B)

The Senegalese big-man from Baskonia is one of the most controversial potential talents of the next draft. Scouts are divided between enthusiasm for a boy with very strong physical skills, defensive qualities and ability to be effective on pick’n’roll, and doubts / suspicions for a player still very immature at a technical level and knowledge of the game, immersed in a context that is not particularly competitive as that of the third Spanish series. Big bet for the next draft or risk hitting a bust colossal?