The arrival of the NBA in the capital for the Paris Games, this Thursday and this Saturday between the San Antonio Spurs and the Indiana Pacers, is an opportunity to look at the high rating of French players in the North American league. For several years, French nuggets have been flooding the draft. And the reasons for this tidal wave are numerous.
Today at 08:00
– updated today at 10:40 a.m.
A time carried by prestigious representatives (Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Joakim Noah), French Basketball has never really eaten its black bread. But what France is currently experiencing, with a massive arrival of young talents on the North American courts, has everything of a real feast.
First there was the appetizer, with the drafts of Frank Ntilikina (8th in 2017), Sekou Doumbouya (15th in 2019), Killian Hayes (7th in 2020) and Ousmane Dieng (11th in 2022) in the top 15 of the traditional NBA high mass. Then the hearty main course, with the first places of Victor Wembanyama (2023) and Zaccharie Risacher (2024) as well as the selections in the top 10 of Alexandre Sarr (2nd in 2024), Tidjane Salaün (6th in 2024) and Bilal Coulibaly (7th in 2023). Before the icing on the cake thanks to Nolan Traoré, who some predictions imagine in the top 5 of the 2025 draft.
Between the first wave of the late 2000s/early 2010s (Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert) and the surge of the early 2020s, France flooded the NBA, where it is the third most represented country behind the United States and Canada.
But then how can we explain such a tidal wave? “The first reason is the quality of French training, whether at the federal level or at the club level,” says Arnaud Marius, scout for two NBA franchises (he cannot reveal their identity, Editor’s note) between 2020 and 2024. “The French system as it is made today is certainly not perfect, but it allows us to bring out a lot of high-level players. We have a fairly large reservoir, whether in mainland or in the French Overseas Territories The detection system is efficient: as soon as there is potential somewhere, we can bring it to basketball and develop it.”
The end of prejudice
Recognized for its talent pool, France and its more than 765,000 members (the second most practiced team sport in the country behind football) also benefits from the improvement in the image of European basketball. After the first stones laid by Tony Parker, Pau Gasol (Spain) or Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) and Victor Wembanyama allow the Old Continent to be finally respected by American recruiters. “Obviously, all the recent examples help us to trust the Europeans. In my time, the European player was perceived as a soft player. A player with talent… but not tough and strong enough to play in the NBA,” details Fred Weis, who never had a chance in the Big League after being one of the first French people to be drafted in the NBA (15th choice by the New York Knicks in 1999).
To enable Europeans to gain the trust of Americans, France played a leading role. “I remember meeting Tony Parker at an All Star Game and saying to myself, ‘He’s made of different wood’. But it was another French player, of the same age, who caught my attention: Boris Diaw.” , confides Roland Lazenby, American journalist and biographer of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. “He had such a range of skills… We loved everything he brought to the game. It set a critical precedent for what NBA scouts saw and allowed them to overcome the stupid prejudices American sports had toward international players.”
“These prejudices existed”
“I remember very well hearing them in the 1980s and 1990s. In the end, it is logical that France, a culture open to the world, is such a source of talent,” assures Roland Lazenby.
Athletic players… trained in a championship that is similar to the NBA
European basketball as a whole is therefore popular across the Atlantic. But in this global “Europeanization” of the NBA, France, which has 14 representatives in the North American league – non-guaranteed contracts included – is by far the country that is doing the best. France is well ahead of Germany (eight players), Serbia (five players), Italy (two players) or Spain (one player) thanks to profiles and a championship that better match what NBA recruiters are looking for. “Very often, the French player is very athletic. Then, he plays in a championship which is very similar to the NBA. Of a lower level, obviously, but which is very athletic, very physical. It runs in all directions, this is not the Spanish championship, which is a little more settled”, details Fred Weis, who spent most of his career in Spain after having hatched at CSP Limoges.
“When it comes to highlighting the strength of French players, Americans often think of athletic qualities, in any case an interesting genetic heritage,” confirms former NBA scout Arnaud Marius. “There are the athletic qualities and the fact that we train very well on defense,” adds Emmanuel Le Nevé, specialist on the subject for the site Envergure, which analyzes and deciphers the prospects from all over the world. “Defense is the strong point of Victor Wembanyama, Bilal Coulibaly, Zaccharie Risacher and Alexandre Sarr,” explains the team expert. scouting.
“This is what really appealed to the Americans”
A sort of virtuous circle has also been established thanks to Victor Wembanyama. The French phenomenon is undoubtedly the best advertisement that exists to extol the merits of French players. It also helped shine the spotlight on the Betclic Elite, a championship that has become particularly attractive to NBA recruiters.
-“The scouts saw a lot of Betclic Elite thanks to Victor and they said to themselves that this championship could be the best preparation for the physical, athletic and fast game of the NBA,” says Arnaud Marius. “The scouts see that we are giving responsibilities to young people who play in a championship which looks a bit like a sort of antechamber of the NBA in certain aspects, focusing on athletic qualities, speed of play etc. The risk is therefore a little more controlled on this type of draft choice.”
The Betclic Elite, the ideal playground
A championship close to the NBA in certain aspects, the Betclic Elite has also become the ideal playground for young people looking for playing time and responsibility. Like Wembanyama and Coulibaly at Boulogne-Levallois, Risacher was last season one of the major players for Bourg-en-Bresse, Eurocup finalist and semi-finalist in the French championship.
Ditto for Nolan Traoré this season at Saint-Quentin. “Today, Nolan Traoré is the starter at Saint Quentin, he has responsibilities, he is exposed,” praises Arnaud Marius. “And Julien Mahé, his coach, made the choice to entrust the reins to an 18-year-old kid. It exposes young people and reassures NBA scouts and franchise managers about bridging the gap between Europe and the States. -United.”
Several French clubs therefore focus their strategy on the development of these prospects NBA. After promoting Tidjane Salaün, sixth choice in the 2024 draft, Cholet Basket, for example, decided to replace the new Charlotte Hornets player with Mohamed Diawara, another young person who aspires to join the North American courts. “Coaches and clubs manage to strike the right balance on one or two ‘youth projects’ per year, a balance between giving them responsibilities and not jeopardizing the competitiveness of the team,” underlines Arnaud Marius. “This confidence grows over the years and allows talents to blossom even more quickly.”
A shift in French basketball strategy
French basketball has understood the value of the treasure it has in its hands. Eager to offer the best showcase for its jewels, the National Basketball League (LNB) even decided to launch its Young Star Game, the first edition of which took place this Tuesday, January 21 at the Palais des Sports Marcel-Cerdan, in Levallois (Hauts-de-Seine). For this event, the 20 best young people from Betclic Elite, Pro B and the Federal Center were brought together to show their talent to NBA recruiters, who came in large numbers on the sidelines of the NBA Paris Games between the San Antonio Spurs and the Indiana Pacers. A real shift in the LNB’s strategy.
Even if certain talents still elude him, like the original career of Alexandre Sarr, who left for Real Madrid, the United States then the New Zealand Breakers before his draft, the French circuit has become the ideal springboard towards the NBA. And the official breeding ground for young talents destined for the American dream. “It wasn’t necessarily easy to make people understand that we must not hide them,” slips Philippe Ausseur, the president of the LNB.
“The saying ‘let’s live hidden, live happily’ doesn’t work”
“On the contrary, we must expose these talents to the open. It is an illusion to believe that we protect them by hiding them, and yet this was the opinion of certain coaches, particularly in the U20 championship” , assures the boss of the LNB.
“We finally understood that we had to use the NBA and not be afraid of it”
To encourage clubs to trust their nuggets, Betclic Elite has notably changed its regulations. “The rule that now applies is that if you transform a young person into a professional contract, it does not ‘consume’ you one of the three changes which are tolerated until February 28,” explains Philippe Ausseur.
“The new generation of coaches wants to entrust responsibilities to young people, the same goes for leaders,” says former scout Arnaud Marius. “They realize that there are great opportunities to sell to sponsors. Sending a player to the NBA is something that marks the history of a club.”
“Today, hosting a potential NBA player in a French club has become an asset more than a constraint”
“We finally understood that we had to use the NBA and not be afraid of it,” adds Fred Weis. “When you have a big brother who is so powerful, it’s sometimes complicated to know how to position yourself in relation to him. Before, we tried to keep our players at all costs. Now, we have understood that we are a springboard league and there’s no shame in that.” On the contrary, this allows French basketball to enjoy annual feasts at each edition of the draft.
Felix Gabory Journalist RMC Sport
