Updated24. June 2024, 11:37 p.m.
Basketball: Kyshawn George before the NBA draft: “I’m in the best situation possible”
The 20-year-old Chablaisien is expected in the first round of the NBA draft on Thursday, therefore with a guaranteed contract. From the United States, he talks about the wait of the last few weeks.
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Jeremy Santallo
After leaving Chalon last summer, Kyshawn George played with the Miami Hurricanes this season in the NCAA.
Imago
His life is about to turn upside down. A few days before the 2024 NBA draft, the current period could give way to tension and excitement. However, observing him during a live on Instagram Saturday evening with a former teammate at Chalon, a French club where he stayed four years before his departure for the United States last summer, Kyshawn George seemed relaxed as ever .
“He’s a friend and he’s coming to New York,” explains the 2m03 Swiss guard, who gave us a long interview from his room in Salt Lake City (Utah) this weekend. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, in Switzerland, the 20-year-old Chablaisien must become the third Swiss player to join the biggest basketball league in the world after Thabo Sefolosha (2006) and Clint Capela (2014). “My friend will be there as well as my parents, my little brother Jamal (editor’s note: Pully Lausanne Foxes player in SBL), my cousin, he continues. In total, I would have a dozen people with me to experience this moment.
Its relaxation can be summed up in two words: Green Room. Ten days ago, Kyshawn George received confirmation from the NBA that he would be among the 25 young people registered in the draft to have a prominent place at the foot of the stage during the ceremony organized at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “It already smelled good before but yes, we can say that it is the validation of the echoes that we had received,” summarizes the player trained at BBC Monthey. I have six people at my table. Besides my parents and my brother, there will be my NBA agent and two childhood friends from Monthey who I have known for a dozen years. In reality, I have no reason to stress because I am in the best possible situation. I’m going to be drafted, that’s almost certain, and I don’t think I’ll be in the 2nd round. So we’ll have to take advantage of it because it’s something we’ll only experience once.”
The opportunity of the moment
Three months ago, everything didn’t seem so obvious. At the end of a good first season with the Miami Hurricanes in the NCAA (8 points at 41% at 3 points), Kyshawn George was around 30th place among specialist journalists. In the draft, the first thirty chosen land a guaranteed contract, not the next thirty, who potentially have to go through summer and development leagues to hope to convince their franchise to repatriate them. “It’s all a question of the situation at the time and opportunity,” he says. Mock Drafts mean everything and nothing, they are journalists who base themselves on echoes, not really on reality. I felt comfortable taking a chance, especially since it was my ultimate goal to go to the NBA. Even though there was some thought involved, it happened quite naturally. It’s a bit in the chronological sequence of things for me. And if we didn’t have confidence that I was going to get drafted, we wouldn’t have done it.”
Since mid-April, Kyshawn George has been fed and housed by an agency that provided him with an apartment in Los Angeles. A month ago, he participated in the Draft Combine in Chicago, an event bringing together 78 talents subjected to different tests. And unlike quite a few colleagues, the Valaisan did not participate in matches. “We had to do the physical tests and the shooting exercises but for the rest, we could choose. My agent and I agreed that playing wasn’t going to do much for me. Those who do it mainly want to increase their rating, to show off. So it’s a bit like summer outside on the playgrounds,” he smiles.
A wanderer’s life
Over the last two weeks, in the home stretch before a draft which should finally propel him into the big world, Kyshawn George has more or less toured the United States. He traveled to Sacramento, Portland, San Antonio, Orlando, Miami, Toronto, Milwaukee, Utah and Washington earlier this week. “To do specific training with these franchises but not only that. There were also discussions and meals, he specifies. These are the teams who organized our trips and my agency helped me with check-ins. In the morning, they sent me my boarding pass to take the plane, my calendar for the day and a car at the hotel.”
We laugh and tell him that it’s still a good life as a wanderer: no need for an answer, his broad smile is enough. “I didn’t dream about the draft in my sleep, but I can’t wait for it to happen. Because in the end, we remain in the dark. The franchises can tell you that they like your profile, but like all the other players. And then there are still the exchanges between the teams the same evening, he recalls. Really, it doesn’t matter where I end up. I just want to know, get accommodation and get to work on my game.”
2024-06-24 21:37:40
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