By Joël Pütz | Sports journalist
First draft pick in 2023, Victor Wembanyama may well have launched a new fashion highlighting European basketball players. While the 2024 edition has just taken place, the San Antonio pivot has his very honest opinion on the situation.
We imagine that this state of affairs does not please American players, especially When we hear Draymond Green talking about French athletes. But the facts are there: FIBA-certified basketball players are taking up more and more space in the NBA. The last American to be elected regular season MVP was James Harden in 2018, an eternity in the big league. Another good example, the recent draft vintages.
A year ago, Victor Wembanyama made history by becoming the first Frenchman to be selected with the first pick in the draft. Twelve months later, the Spurs phenomenon was joined by his compatriot Zaccharie Risacher who was given the same honor in 2024, this time at the Hawks. And the No. 2 of this edition also comes from France in the person of Alexandre Sarr, who will play for the Wizards.
Three French people in a row in first draft pick??!
Add to that another Frenchy in the Top 6 with Tidjane Salaün (6th, Hornets) as well as the Serbian Nikola Topic (12th, Thunder) and it starts to be a lot. Impossible to deny it: a majority of the great hopes of current basketball are not American, proof of the progression of the discipline beyond the borders of the United States.
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Wembanyama is obviously following all this closely as he is set to become one of the standard-bearers of the orange ball as a whole. He also gave a big teaser regarding France:
Of course I stayed awake. My first impression when I saw this was to tell myself that it’s still not enough for French basketball.
If you have done it twice in a row, you can do it a third time and why not a fourth. Of course there will always be years better than others for French basketball and basketball in general, but I think that it testifies to this phenomenon that we have seen for several years
It’s hard not to be hyped by this prediction from the Alien, especially since the young Nolan Traoré is already driving US scouts crazy in preparation for the 2025 vintage. Without much surprise, Wemby is delighted to witness such an evolution:
There are more and more Europeans entering the NBA, who dominate in the NBA, particularly French people. For me it’s a huge source of pride and I want to help French basketball as best I can, and the first thing is through performance.
All that remains is to cross our fingers that this good momentum continues.
International players, especially French ones, are making more and more noise, Victor Wemnbanyama being the perfect example. We now wish Zaccharie Risacher, Alexandre Sarr and all the other Tricolores of the new generation that they experience the same success as the Spurs pivot during his rookie year in the NBA.
2024-06-29 10:20:00
#draft #Wembanyamas #cash #analysis #Europeans
