A year ago, Victor Wembanyama made French basketball history with this first place in the 2023 Draft. Never has a French basketball player been selected so high, and obviously, it will be impossible to do better. Except that the 2024 Draft could be just as historic since France could place two basketball players in the first two places. These are Zaccharie Risacher and Alexandre Sarr, favorites to be called by the Hawks then the Wizards as 1st and 2nd choices of this Draft.
This would obviously be a first in the history of French basketball. But the historic nature of this Draft does not stop there. France would become the second foreign country, after Canada, to regain first choice two years in a row. Canadians Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett set the precedent in 2014 and 2015.
Read >>> Our predictions for the 2024 NBA Draft
What would be even more historic is two foreign players, from the same country, in the first two places. This never happened. Moreover, this 2nd place in the Draft has rarely been occupied by a foreign player. Perhaps because the rare times this has been the case, they have been monumental flops: Darko Milicic in 2003 and Hasheem Thabeet in 2009.
Finally, these Wednesday and Thursday evenings, France has the possibility of breaking, or equaling, records. First, to beat the number of those representatives selected in the first round. Barring an earthquake, three are guaranteed to be selected this evening (Risacher, Sarr and Tidjane Salaün), and that would be a record. France has never placed so many players in the first round, and there could even be four if Pacôme Dadiet is selected at the end of the first round.
Furthermore, if Melvin Ajinça is also selected, France would equal a record with five players selected in the same year. For now, the record belongs to the 2016 Draft with Guershon Yabusele (16th choice, Boston), Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (24th, Philadelphia), David Michineau (39th, LA Clippers), Isaiah Cordinier (44th, Atlanta) and Petr Cornelie (53rd, Denver).
