He arrived a little earlier than most of his compatriots but Victor Wembanyama is undoubtedly the face of a wave of the new French basketball generation in the NBA. Emmet Ryan on how Wemby is setting a standard for Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Tidjane Salaun and more.
An awful lot is expected of Victor Wembanyama with the San Antonio Spurs this coming season. That is a shock to absolutely nobody. He lit up the NBA in his rookie campaign. Now, he’s favourite for defensive player of the year and most improved player. One superstar, even an alien, is nice. The impact of France and its new generation of basketball talent in the NBA could yet be much greater. We’re potentially at the beginning of a big moment.
Things are getting big
The first thing you notice with the NBA’s French revolution is Victor Wembanyama. The second thing you notice is size. While Wemby, at 7’4”, towers above his compatriots, it’s not by all that much.
Zacharie Risacher is 6’9”. Alex Sarr stands at 7 feet tall on the button. Tidjane Salaun matches Risacher in height, while Pacome Dadiet is just a smidge shorter at 6’8”. All four of these were first round selections. Risacher and Sarr, of course, were the first two picked in 2024. Add in Bilal Coulibaly, 6’8” and the 7th pick last year, and a clear pattern is emerging.
France is delivering bigs that are in big demand to the NBA. The young crop from France promises to become a true force on the international stage that potentially only the USA can match in the front court.
This is not normal. France has long been good, Tony Parker made sure of that. It has never before felt like a production line of talent, at least not on this scale. To produce this many bigs with, at least in the eyes of NBA teams, top tier potential in basketball is quite new.
Expectations can be managed
Think about Franz Wagner. The way he plays, his production, and how he has grown in the NBA. Now think about what will happen the next time Germany has a small forward who can shoot rise up draft boards. He’s going to be compared to Wagner. It’s natural in basketball, it’s obvious and ‘the next Franz Wagner’ will hang over that player.
Now think about Victor Wembanyama. The Alien has delivered at such a high level so early in his career that Alex Sarr doesn’t have to worry too much. Nobody is rushing to anoint any French big man as the next Wemby. Even Rudy Gobert comparisons disappear because Wemby is a huge distraction.
For this crop of French bigs, they are able to develop free of such comparisons. The NBA’s French revolution can be conducted under the terms of those players and what they do. That doesn’t mean the pressure is off. It just means the focus is different. If Zaccharie Risacher, Sarr, and Tidjane Salaun all flop then the hype around France might dissipate a tad. That said, if they all do fine and Pacome Dadiet also impresses, the hype will only grown.
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That being said
The jury is still out on Sidy Cissoko and Rayan Rupert so we’ll leave them for a minute. After that, recent French picks into the NBA haven’t exactly been lighting up the league. Ousmane Dieng is showing progress, having been MVP of the G League finals. That said, he’s a former lottery pick yet to feature in a notable way entering his third full season.
Killian Hayes (7th pick in 2020) is currently looking for a job. Theo Maledon (34th pick in 2020) is back in Europe, albeit starring for LDLC Asvel. Sekou Doumbaya (15th pick in 2019) never really caught on in the NBA and is entering his second season back in Europe. Elie Okobo was drafted 31st in 2018 and was back in Europe by 2021. Frank Ntilikina was picked 8th in 2017, and after a bunch of chances without impressing returned to Europe this season.
The easy way of looking at this is to say that France has delivered a bunch of flops. A more balanced view would be that, naturally, expecting a star to emerge from a still small crop was asking too much. Yet, there is a more advanced view. That these players were somewhat of an advanced party. This crop arrived before the true harvest of the NBA’s French revolution was ready.
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INSEP-tion and beyond
Institut National du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance, better known as INSEP, has been French basketball’s not so secret weapon for years. The academy has helped the likes of Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, and Evan Fournier all develop into NBA calibre talents. It was essentially the fertiliser for the boom in French basketball talent.
Both Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher went through INSEP, as did Ntilikina and Maledon. What’s different now is that it’s no longer the only place where top French talent develops. None of Alex Sarr, Tidjane Salaun, or Pacome Dadiet were part of INSEP yet still developed into first round talents.
There has been a rising tide in the quality of talent coming out of France and that’s likely to only grow. Part of that is due to commercial interests. Nike, mainly through its Jordan brand, and Adidas, have both pumped millions into Paris in particular. The value of that market means both are trying to take command.
The result is that one of the most fertile metro areas for sporting talent in the world has got more young people getting interested in basketball. This should improve the pipeline even more.
Nolan Traore differs from Alex Sarr, Pacome Dadiet, Tidjane Salaun, and Bilal Coulibaly in one key way. He’s a guard.
Just one small thing
Nolan Traoré, another prospect that went through INSEP, is more important than his draft stock might indicate. Currently projected at 5th overall next summer, on average, he’s different to the rest of the NBA’s French revolution in one key respect. The dude is a guard.
Traoré showed out at the Adidas Next Generation Tournament last May. This season, he’s impressing with a very fun to watch Saint-Quentin side in the LNB in France and the Basketball Champions League. In the latter, he’s averaging 19 points and 5.5 assists through two games.
There is clearly a big-heavy lean with the basketball talent coming out of France. Ahead of the draft last year, the talk amongst European journalists was where were France’s guards? Then Traoré showed up in Berlin and we felt the question was answered. For now at least. How they turn one prospect into a backcourt pipeline that can match what they do up front is another question. Whoever is handling the ball for France’s national team, one thing is certain. They’ll be sending that ball to Victor Wembanyama early and often. Then the Alien can decide which talented shooting big to work it to.
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