Breaking Down the 2024 NBA Draft International Class

A lot has been made about international players at the top of the class, but what about the overall view of the class?

Many strong opinions have been voiced about the 2024 NBA Draft, but one of the most common sentiments is this is the worst draft class since at least 2013, or even 2000. With that being said, 2013 in particular has produced at least two 1st ballot Hall of Famers in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert, and that isn’t out of the question for this year’s class. The NBA Draft is seen as an odds game the same as any other draft, and frankly no players in this draft class stand out as a franchise-changing player or even a projectable all-star. But one field this class is particularly strong in is the depth of international talent. The previous two draft classes only had two players selected in the 1st round who played the season before their draft season overseas (Wembanyama and Coulibaly in 2023, and Dieng and Jovic in 2022), at this time I have six players inside my top 30 who are currently playing overseas. While this class doesn’t have the world-altering talent at the top in Victor Wembanyama, I see this as a win for global basketball, as opening up more pipelines to the NBA makes it so viewers can continue to view the best possible basketball in the NBA. However, the average basketball fan in America only engages with the NBA and college basketball, and a lot of the time these overseas players don’t get the same kind of attention or even get labeled as soft, among other false reputations. Here I am going to outline 6 of my favorite (not highest-ranked) international prospects from this class in the hope of educating those who are now only tuning into draft season on these players. Let’s get started.

Alex Sarr

Big|Perth NBL|7’1” No. 1 on Current Board

Alex has had anything but a normal route to the NBA, to the point where I would argue he will be the poster child for years to come for that abnormal path, and how beneficial it can be for a player. The brother of Oklahoma City Two-Way player Olivier Sarr, Alex grew up around basketball at a young age. Similar to a lot of young basketball stars in Europe, Alex joined the junior pro team for Real Madrid, before going to the Overtime Elite Program in Atlanta for 2023, where he would face off with former top 5 picks Amen and Ausar Thompson, and play on a team in their circuit with both current NCAA player Kanaan Carlyle and Izan Almansa. Sarr then decided to spend his pre-draft season in the NBL via their Next Stars program, something popularized since the success of LaMelo Ball in the program in one of its first years in 2020. For those who don’t know the NBL is one of the most physical leagues in the world. NBA and NCAA fans alike argue at length about how “soft” the modern rules are, or how one league is more physical than the other, but I am confident in saying the NBL might have the most player-to-player contact of any league in the world, and seeing Sarr, who is a lanky player go into that league full of former NCAA players and grown men and succeed has done wonders for his draft stock.

But who is Sarr as a player? Sarr is not your traditional big man, he projects to be able to stretch the floor, dribble, and pass, similar to the way that Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren can allow their teams to play a more diverse and modern offense. While Sarr is only a theoretical shooter right now similar to how Mobley was viewed coming out of USC juxtaposed to Chet, Sarr very clearly possesses great touch and has to iron out some of the mechanics that make every shooter great. Right now he has a slight side spin on the ball, but he has steadily improved year after year as a shooter and shoots with confidence. The huge swing skill I have loved from him so much has been his passing. Sarr very clearly is a good processor of the game on both ends, and that shows well in his passing. He has been excellent this year out of the short roll at making kick-outs to the corner or hitting cutters, along with being able to find cutters in transition, which albeit is somewhat rare considering he has the open court mobility to go and outright score himself in the open floor.

But the side of the ball that has most people including myself most excited about Sarr as a prospect is his defensive versatility. By the end of his time in the NBL, he was tied for 2nd for the most blocks per game in the league, but that isn’t where it ends. Sarr very clearly has incredible instincts on that end and is not only a traditional shot blocker, but he has the aforementioned high feel and processing to be able to make timely rotations to erase shots. He is also a very fluid mover, and is potentially capable of guarding 1-5, although right now I see him as more of a 2-5, as he can sometimes struggle to contain the quickest guards. If you ever turn on Sarr’s tape you will see the Perth Wildcats run some exotic coverages with him, sometimes just even allowing him to switch out onto a perimeter ball handler and use his length and quick feet to contain. He very clearly has been taught how to not only slide his feet but also leverage his size and length to compete on the perimeter. All in all, I think one day Alex Sarr could potentially make an All-Defense team along with being a quality contributor on the offensive end.

Nikola Topic

Point Guard|Red Star|6’6” No. 3 on Current Board

I had Topic a bit on my radar going into this season and had heard they were going to be playing USC in an overseas game in the summer, and frankly, I was very excited for this USC roster that didn’t quite pan out, just like most were. I was able to sit down and watch these two games and I loved what I saw. Seeing him read Kobe Johnson, one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball, on the weak side and see those two play mind games with them was one of my favorite scouts of this entire draft cycle.

Nikola Topic has really had a tale of two seasons this year in his regular season though. He did play for two teams this season, the first of which being KK Mega on loan before he then was called up to Red Star, the best team in all of the Adriatic League which also plays in the Euroleague. At first, Topic started the year super hot for Mega. In his time there he averaged 18/6/4 on 52%/29%/85% shooting splits and was absolutely carving up Adriatic League defenders with his quick burst, and monster finishing at the rim despite not having a whole lot of flash there. Topic then got injured and was eventually called up to the big leagues for Red Star. There his role diminished and so did his stats with them. Eventually, he put together some promising tape where he was able to show some connective playmaking in addition to still flashing his on-ball skills in a limited capacity before he would then get injured again, which was reported as a partially torn ACL.

Were it not for the injury concerns I would love Topic a lot more, and I am already quite high on him. He is a super advanced playmaker in the PnR, as well as being able to finish around anyone. I do have some smaller concerns about his separation, as Adriatic League defenders aren’t always super quick, but it isn’t anything that I see pop on tape too often. His shooting and defense leave a lot to be desired, the former of which did look quite a bit better at lower levels when he wasn’t playing with the ball in his hands. But Topic is for sure a surefire killer around the rim and playmaking for others.

Tidjane Salaun

Wing|Cholet Basket|6’9” No. 16 on Current Board

Tidjane came into the year on the radar for only the sickos of draft scouts and was a late arrival on the scene this year. That being said, Tidjane has made quite an impression on scouts, with some having him in their top 5, and some not even having him in their top 20. I am often torn on him, as in some games he looks completely lost, and in other games, he looks like the best player on the court.

Tidjane is a physical force in the French League. He is already super built and looks like he lives in the gym. His shoulders are super broad and he has good length. On top of that, he has all the physical tools you would want to see in a 3-4 wing. The long strides, the ability to leap off of either foot or off of two, some fluidity, and he is fast in the open court. His motor never stops, and he always is looking to impact the game in one way or another. And most of all, his confidence is off the charts. If you ever turn on a Cholet game, there is a pretty good chance you see Salaun go down the court, pull a transition pull-up 3-point shot, and completely miss everything. The next possession, it goes in, and he looks like the best player on the planet. His shooting is one of his many contentious points. He has looked a lot better off the catch than off the dribble, and his form looks great. He has a high release and good footwork that makes it so he is unbothered by most contests. However, he is very much an inconsistent shooter. Some months he is on fire, and other months he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. There are also some finishing concerns, as if he can’t throw down a dunk he struggles as a finisher, and he offers nothing in between the 3-point line and the rim, with no floater, and his 17% shooting on pull-up twos. His handle is super loose and out of control as well. Salaun does however offer a lot as a cutter, and his ability to finish above the rim makes him a B-level lob threat. He is best when unleashed in the open floor.

There is a range of outcomes that exists for Salaun, and there is a chance somewhere along those outcomes is someone that can impact the game in some kind of combination of the way that someone like Michael Porter Jr. or Dorian Finney-Smith can, but I don’t think he will be able to play from day 1 and will spend a lot of his time in the G League early on.

Pacôme Dadiet

Wing|Ratiopharm|6’8” No. 18 on Current Board

Dadiet is another player who people have had at many different ranges across their boards this draft season. I tend to fall in the camp that is quite a bit higher on him than normal, and that is for a few reasons not too obvious when you watch the tape. Similarly to Salaun before him, Dadiet profiles as one of these 2-4 combo-y wings, that shoots and is a high-level athlete. The difference between Dadiet and Salaun is the role. Dadiet comes off the bench for Ratiopharm, but I would argue in this more limited role, his per-minute tape looks quite a bit better.

Dadiet is a much more developed shooter at this point in the process. He is going to finish shooting this season at 36% and was 31% off the dribble. As a dribbler, he is more developed than I believe people give him credit for, as he has been sneakily efficient as a pick-and-roll ballhandler this season, ending up in the 93rd percentile for those possessions. This is likely due to him growing up as a point guard before a late growth spurt, and a lot of this pops. But he is also able to get into the mid-range or to the rim and score for himself. Off the ball, where he spends more of his time, Dadiet can be a fantastic cutter, who has awesome timing, along with being a developed finisher at the rim at 73%. He is awesome as an offense rebounder, and he can use his already-developed frame to go up and get some tough boards. I think there is a real outcome where Dadiet can play off the ball next to a star ball-handler due to his unselfishness and off-the-ball skills, and play with the ball in his hands as a scorer in bench units.

His swing skills are his defense and ability to impact the game in transition. As I mentioned Dadiet has a good frame and will occasionally flash the ability to get a great steal in the passing lane, or come and make a timely rotation. More often than not though he is ball-watching and will get back-cut, but that is something you see from a lot of younger players in professional leagues. Transition is super interesting and really a toss-up. Teams in the German League just play at a slower pace than NBA teams, and Dadiet doesn't get the chance to showcase some grab-and-go ability that I believe he has.

AJ Johnson

Guard/Wing|Illawarra NBL|6’5” No. 27 on Current Board

Some would argue Johnson breaks the point of this entire exercise as he is an American-born player raised in America who went over to Australia to play for the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL for his pre-draft season after de-committing from Texas. But I would argue that is the whole point. The game is growing and players are going to other leagues to better showcase their skills. While I love Johnson, some would also argue he didn’t always better showcase his skills. He often looked physically outmatched in the NBL, which as I mentioned when talking about Alex Sarr is one of if not the most physical leagues in the world. Johnson seemed to struggle with this at times, and he rarely got playing time on one of the better teams in the NBL, and by the end of the year, he finished having played a whopping 8 minutes per game. I can only think of one college player in recent memory who had a similar situation to Johnson, and that would be Peyton Watson of UCLA, who still managed to play 13 minutes per game on what was a loaded roster that year, featuring four other players who ended up getting at least a cup of coffee in the league.

So why do I have a 1st round grade on Johnson? That would be due to the fact he has some of the single-best flashes of any player in this class. Johnson is an incredibly high-level athlete in more ways than one. He is explosive with an ability to get above the rim, be a blur in the open court, and has elite body control. Johnson is a projected good shooter. The shot looks great, right now he is just young and small and can’t make it consistently. He also displays great touch. Johnson also cannot finish at the rim when he deals with contact. It isn’t that I think he has bad touch, in fact I think he has good touch, but he simply gets bumped off balance, and his 167-pound frame goes flying. His passing is also a huge swing skill. A couple of times this year Johnson would make an awesome read and throw a no-look bounce pass to a cutter, or make an advanced kick to the corner, but at other times he looks sped up and rushes a shot. In the NBA combine games in particular he looked nearly like a point guard, and ran ball screens, and a lot of the time he was able to patiently react to the defense and make the right read, and more creative reads.

Defensively there is a lot to like. he was able to carve out a bit of a role there in the season, as his high energy, athleticism, and a wingspan at 6’9” allowed him to impact the game there. Sometimes he would look like he wanted to have too much impact, almost as if he wanted to impress, and would over-gamble and foul. As he puts on weight he will only look to improve there and potentially become a two-way contributor.

Ultimately I believe nearly all of Johnson’s issues come from the fact he is just small right now, and after 1 or 2 years in an NBA weight room, a lot of these finishing issues will go away. The processing isn’t poor, and if he wasn’t playing such limited minutes the mistakes wouldn’t look that bad, as he is a teenager in a pro league, and many prospects in this draft make similar mistakes due to age. A team looking to draft Johnson shouldn’t rush his process and should allow him to develop into the player he needs to be in the G League, but I believe I am more confident than most in his ability to sooner rather than later develop into this great player.

Melvin Ajinca

Wing|Saint Quentin|6’8” No. 39 on Current Board

Melvin is a fascinating player and someone who I struggle to place on my board, but I kinda love him for that reason. He was someone who gained a lot of hype last summer after his fantastic play in the FIBA U19 World Cup, where he was the leading scorer for a France team that ended up runners-up for the entire event, on a team with Alex Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher. This year he didn’t quite meet the expectations I had for him, but I am still excited about him as a prospect.

Ajinca played for Saint Quentin this season, a middle-of-the-road team in the French league that primarily ran a 3-2 zone the entire year. And unfortunately, that makes it pretty hard for me to evaluate Ajinca defensively, so I turn to his FIBA tape. In FIBA he moved well laterally with a good frame and often looked engaged more than he did for Saint Quentin. I struggle to determine whether or not he was actually less engaged, or if the less rotation-heavy style of a zone defense lulled Ajinca into a passive defensive setup. I tend to lean towards the zone being the issue, and if you allowed Ajinca to compete more with his defender he would be more impactful.

Offense can be a bit of a mixed bag. To start with the outright positive, Ajinca is a good shooter and has been for a while now. He not only can shoot off of the catch, but he also has a little step back he likes to get off of relocation, and that looks good as well. He moves well off the ball and is willing to set screens and cut to the lane. With the ball in his hands, it starts to get a bit negative. Ajinca aggressively attacks the rim with almost zero regard, and will often throw up a bad shot. The positive is his ability to get into the paint and collapse it, but he has to be better once he gets there or develop an ability to pass, which isn’t something he has shown.

Ajinca is an exciting prospect, and I could totally see a world where a team is willing to reach into the mid to low 30s and develop him if they believe he can develop the skills to play playoff minutes. He already possesses the shooting and probably possesses the defense, but feel can be hard to develop, so that limits his upside.