NBA draft will have tons of international talent, which is to be expected

National Post

5 hours ago

There's no Victor Wembanyama in the class headed to the NBA draft this week. There's no Zaccharie Risacher, either. For the first time since 2022, the first pick in the draft will not be someone from France.
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Wembanyama had that title in 2023. Risacher had it last year. This year, Duke's Cooper Flagg is almost certain to go No. 1. That doesn't mean there isn't going to be a ton of international representation in these 59 picks. Far from it.
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It's not outside the realm of possibility that somewhere around a third of the picks called on Wednesday and Thursday will be players who either originally or currently hail from outside the United States — from the Bahamas, South Sudan, Russia, Canada, China, Australia, Lithuania, Spain, Israel, France and more. Some went to college in the U.S., others will be looking to come play in this country (or Canada, if the Toronto Raptors come calling) for the first time.
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'The guys who came before us, these are guys that kind of created a path, like prepared the NBA to welcome Europeans and to make life easier for us,' said Stanford centre Maxime Raynaud, a first-round prospect from France. 'And I think the best way to pay respect to that is just coming in with the hungriest mentality and the best work ethic possible.'
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The one-third estimate — if it works out that way over the draft nights — might sound like a lot, but it isn't. It actually is consistent with where the game is now, considering that roughly 30% of the players in the NBA this past season were born somewhere other than the U.S.
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Some are names that are known in the U.S. from playing in college: Baylor's VJ Edgecombe hails from the Bahamas and almost certainly will be a top-five pick, and Duke centre Khaman Maluach — originally from South Sudan, and someone still learning the game — is a top-10 candidate.
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'If you told me three years ago, I didn't think I would be sitting here,' Maluach said. 'But I knew one day I would be sitting here.'