PHILADELPHIA — The path to the NBA has traditionally gone through college basketball.
Since the draft started in 1947, only five players have made the quantum leap to the league without college experience. Three of them– Kwame Brown, LeBron James and Dwight Howard– were high school eligibles. The other two were 7-5 center Yao Ming of China in 2002 and forward Andrew Bargnani from Italy in 2006
But that model imploded this year in the draft when five of the top seven players taken came from international basketball, Overtime Elite or the G-League Ignite.
Victory Wembanyama, the 19-year- old, 7-5 generational giant from France, went 1 to San Antonio, guard Scoot Henderson of G-League Ignite, went 3 to Portland. The Thompson twins– Amen and Ausar– from Overtime Elite, went 4 and 5 to Houston and Detroit. and forward Balil Coulibaly from France went seventh to Washington.
And there is no end in sight to this trend.
Yahoo Sports just came out with its early mock draft for the 2024 draft and four of the top six took alternative pathways with 6-11 Matas Buzelis from Sunrise Christian, who passed on college offers from Kentucky, UNC, Florida State and Wake Forest to sign with the G-League Ignite, is the early favorite to be selected first overall. Zaccharie Risacher, a 6-9 forward from France, is the consensus 2 while 6-7 forward Ron Holland, the best player in the Nike Hoop Summit who decommitted from home state Texas to sign with Ignite is 3 while 6-6 guard Thierry Darlan from Senegal and the G-League Elite is expected to go 6. The potential seventh pick is Tyrese Proctor from Duke via Australia. The 6-5 Proctor was a starter on the Devils but opted to stay through his sophomore year.
Unlike Wembanyama, Buzelis is considered a level below Wembanyama as a prospect because he currently weighs less than 200- pounds. But he is versatile enough to play multiple positions and can both shoot and rebound at a high level and should be helped by a year in the G-League He spent the offseason working out with trainer Chris Brickley and Carmelo Anthony in New York and has added muscle to his frame.
When NBA scouts went to France to watch Wembanyama, they discovered a 17-year-old talent in Rischaler, who was the youngest and one of the best players in the Hoop Summit. Rischaler made 11 straight threes at one point during the practice sessions in Portland.
France seems to be rapidly replacing Canada as the biggest incubator for NBA prospects outside of the United States. Five French players were selected in this year’s 58 player, two round draft. The country became the flavor of the month after scouts began making the pilgimage to see Wembanyama, who signed a contract with Nike at age 14, and his young Metropolitans 92 team advance to the finals of the French League.
ESPN went as far as to proclaim he was the best draft pick in the history of team sports before he had ever played a game in the NBA.
Webanyama’s ultimate goal is to win an NBA ring. There may not happen overnight since the Spurs were 22-60 last season with limited talent. It took both LeBron and Kevin Durant three years to even reach the playoffs. And Michael didn’t win his first title until 1991, six years after he entered the league.
There are over 100 international players currently on NBA rosters. The best– power forward Giannis Antetokoummpo of Greece and centers Nikola Jovic of Serbia and Joel Embiid of the Cameroon– have won the last four MVP awards. A rotation combination of those three plus small forward Luka Doncic of Slovenia, guards Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins and Shai Gilgeous Alexander of Canada, and power forward Domantas Sabonis of Lithuania, power forward Lauri Markkenen of Finland and Wembanyama could beat any domestic all- star team from this country.
