the French Zaccharie Risacher and Alexandre Sarr selected in first positions in the Draft

An unprecedented double in the history of French basketball: the French Zaccharie Risacher and Alexandre Sarr were selected in first and second position in the NBA Draft on Wednesday June 26, respectively by Atlanta and Washington.

France thus did even better than during the previous vintage, which saw another French basketball player, Victor Wembanyama, first on the podium. The country thus becomes the third, after the United States and Canada, to have two nationals chosen number one in two consecutive years.

A third Frenchman, Tidjane Salaün, completed this unprecedented evening for French basketball. In sixth position, much higher than expected for him, the Charlotte Hornets set their sights on the former Cholet winger, who is still only 18 years old.

Conclusion of a successful season for the ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne player

A 19-year-old winger and 2.06 meters tall, Zaccharie Risacher joins an already competitive team, which came close to the playoffs last season, a rarity in a system designed to allow the most sportingly mediocre franchises to choose the best newcomers.

This is the conclusion of a prosperous season for the ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne player who had bet on a loan to Bourg-en-Bresse. In Ain, the youngest Frenchman to have played in the Euroleague (16 years and 10 months) benefited from significant playing time (23 minutes on average) and took on a new dimension. He notably progressed in outside shooting and showed that he did not shy away from contact, despite a slender physique, facing seasoned players, older than him. He completed this campaign by raising the tone in the playoffs, with an average of 14 points and a peak of 28 points.

In Atlanta, which had not chosen in first position since 1975, he will join an already very extensive external sector. The Hawks have, in fact, the great shooter Trae Young, the efficient rear Dejounte Murray, who have both already been selected for the All-Star Game, as well as the promising young winger Jalen Johnson (22 years old).

Zaccharie Risacher cites his father, Stéphane Risacher, a former international silver medalist at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, as his first influence. The two share a natural elegance and extraordinary fluidity of movement.

Although he has already won two world medals in the youth categories, Zaccharie Risacher was nevertheless not selected in the expanded selection for the Paris Games. He will therefore be able to devote himself fully to his integration into the NBA.

Alexandre Sarr in Washington

This is also the case for Alexandre Sarr (2.16 meters and 19 years old also), who will set sail for Washington. This team chronically weak in defense will need his size, his wingspan and his mobility to raise its standing.

Unlike Risacher, who was entirely trained in France, Sarr has multiplied destinations, from the Real Madrid youth teams to the Australian NBL league, via the American Overtime Elite youth training system.

The interior, also a world medalist among young people alongside Zaccharie Risacher, will meet in the capital of the United States another Frenchman, Bilal Coulibaly, author of a very promising first season with the Wizards.