2023-06-21 19:39:08
DECRYPTION – Everything you need to know ahead of the NBA Draft tonight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
It’s the big day for Victor Wembanyama. But not only him. The 2023 NBA Draft, 77th in the name, will take place on the night of Thursday to Friday around 2 a.m., at Barclays Center, the hall of the Brooklyn Nets. It will be watched live on beIN SPORTS, taken from the antenna at 1:45 a.m. This is obviously the evening during which the franchises of the North American league have the opportunity to select the best young people aged 18 and over. Many of them come from the NCAA (American university championship), but the clubs are more and more attracted by nuggets from abroad, like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and other Nikola Jokic, who make one of the best players in the NBA right now. The running order was determined during the lottery on May 15. “Wemby” on pole, the other “Frenchies”, the program of festivities… Everything you need to know before the 2023 NBA Draft.
Who will be chosen first?
This year, no suspense: it is Victor Wembanyama who will be number 1 in the Draft. The 19-year-old French prodigy was on the verge of spilling the beans following the last match of the Betclic Elite finals last Thursday at Roland-Garros… If “Wemby” is promised to Spurs, who won the lottery a few weeks, however, it is not due to a lack of talent in this class of 2023. With Brandon Miller (Alabama), Scoot Henderson (Ignite) or the twins Amen and Ausar Thompson (Overtime Elite) to name only them, there is plenty to do. But from the height of his 2.21m, the Frenchman is just so much above the fray. Size, motricity, technique, skill, mental… He has it all! We had not seen such expectation, such hype around a player since LeBron James!
Read alsoNBA: Victor Wembanyama, the meteoric rise of a 19-year-old giant
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First choice in the Draft, guarantee of success?
Oh no… From LaRue Martin (Portland, 1972) to Anthony Bennett (Cleveland, 2013), via Michael Olowokandi (LA Clippers, 1998), Greg Oden (Portland, 2007) or even Kwame Brown (Washington, 2001), many franchises holding the first “pick” of the Draft later regretted their choice… Michael Jordan was also only selected in third position in the 1984 Draft, behind Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston) and… Sam Bowie (Portland). Obviously, sometimes, often even, it goes much better, as for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969), Magic Johnson (1979), Shaquille O’Neal (1992) or LeBron James (2003). The Spurs had the hollow nose by choosing David Robinson (1987) and Tim Duncan (1997) during the first two times where they disposed of this first “pick”. Never two without three ?
Read alsoNBA: why San Antonio is the right pick for Victor Wembanyama
Which other French people in the Draft 2023?
The 2023 vintage promises to be historic for French basketball. In addition to “Wemby” in first place, four tricolor players might be called up this Thursday evening at the Barclays Center. Starting with the now ex-teammate of Wembanyama at the Mets, Bilal Coulibaly. Announced around 10th place, the 18-year-old winger even deserves a Top 5 if we believe it… Wembanyama. “Bilal has a profile quite similar to the Thompson twins, undeniably. But in fact, he’s taller, bigger in stature, he shoots better, he’s at least as athletic, and he plays at a level light years away from (the new league) Overtime Elite. So if some prospects of this level are announced in the Top 5, Bilal deserves at least to be Top 5“, he swears, just to explain”honestlya recent tweet to this effect.
Expatriate in New Zealand, Rayan Rupert (Auckland Breakers) should also be called in the first round. Around 20th place? Son of the late Thierry and brother of the international Iliana, currently hard at work with Les Bleues at the Euro, he is in any case also on the list of guests for the “Green Room” (see elsewhere), as his two compatriots. We are also talking regarding Sidy Cissokho (Ignite) for the second round. To see if Nadir Hifi (Paris Basketball) will be selected. The latter has signed for the next three seasons with the favor of David Kahn’s club.
Who are the best drafted French people so far?
There are three French people selected in the Top 10, Killian Hayes (7th), Frank Ntilikina (8th) and Joakim Noah (9th). The only three so far, before Wembanyama … Remember that the first tricolor player chosen in the Draft is called Jean-Claude Lefebvre (Minneapolis Lakers), in 1960. Tariq Abdul-Wahad was however the first to tread the American floors. The Sacramento Kings took him in 11th position in the 1997 Draft. Tony Parker had only been selected in 28th place by San Antonio in 2001. 21st choice for Boris Diaw (2003), 25th for Nicolas Batum ( 2008), 20 for Evan Fournier (2012), or even 27 for Rudy Gobert (2013), if we are talking regarding the most outstanding players of the French team in recent years.
Read alsoNBA: in the footsteps of “TP”, Wembanyama to San Antonio to live his American dream
How will the evening unfold?
No major novelty to expect in the course of an evening in the form of a ritual. 25 players – including the French Wembanyama, Coulibaly and Rupert – will be gathered in what is called the “Green Room”. Understand that they will be in the front row, in front of the stage on which Adam Silver, big boss of the NBA, will be. These 25 players, who have no assurance of being the first 25 in the Draft, have the right to be accompanied by 10 of their relatives. Then Mr. Silver will say the following words:With the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs, select Victor Wembanyama» («With the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs, choose“). “Wemby” will only have to go on stage, put on a Texas club cap and pose with the commissioner for posterity, before responding to journalists. Adam Silver, he will continue to give the names one by one until the end of the first round (30 players), with undoubtedly several exchanges of rounds of draft, even players, announced along the way. It is his assistant, Mark Tatum, who will take over for the second (28).
Still, Wembanyama has already imagined this evening a thousand times. “This moment, when my name will be pronounced by Adam Silver, is something I have already imagined, which I have actually dreamed of for a long time. It will be an incredible mix of emotions… I’m not used to stressing out before matches or big events. But for this moment of rocking in my life, it is sure that I will have the ball in the belly… I do not know exactly how I will feel but it will be an extremely special moment“, he considered following the final of Betclic Elite lost once morest Monaco, on June 15th.
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