Victor Wembanyama took the NBA by storm long before logging his first minute in a Spurs uniform. The league streamed all of Wembanyama’s games while he was playing for the Metropolitans 92 in France’s LNB Pro A league, and every basketball fan knew who the 7-foot-4 unicorn was heading into the 2023 NBA Draft.
Viewership only increased on the NBA App and NBA League Pass internationally, as fans tuned in to watch Wembanyama’s rookie season. He didn’t disappoint, running away with the Rookie of the Year award — averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks per game — and finishing as the runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting. The Spurs were the most watched team in France this season, increasing viewership by 189%, according to NBA Communications.
Wembanyama is a generational-type player, and he’s lived up to the hype. But his presence in the NBA has perhaps overshadowed another exciting development:
There is a wave of talent following Wembanyama out of France.
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
Last year, Wembanyama’s Mets 92 teammate, Bilal Coulibaly, went No. 7 in the draft to the Washington Wizards (and he has added some muscle to his frame this offseason preparing for a breakout sophomore season). Next week, three French players could be picked in the top five of the 2024 NBA Draft: Zaccharie Risacher, a 6-8 wing who played for JL Bourg; Alex Sarr, a 7-1 center originally from France who played in Australia this past season; and Tidjane Salaun, a 6-9 wing, who played for Cholet.
Risacher and Sarr are projected to be the first two players off the board. Salaun could go anywhere from 5-12. And there is even the possibility that either Risacher or Salaun could join Wembanyama on the Spurs, who have options with the No. 4 and No. 8 picks in the draft. Meanwhile, Pacome Dadiet, a 6-8 wing and one of the youngest players in the draft, is a potential first-rounder and Melvin Ajinca, another 6-8 wing, is a second-round sleeper.
“I’m just happy to see all these French guys coming into the league,” Sarr told Yahoo Sports at the draft combine. “It just shows all the potential we have in…
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