The may have to rethink the timing of its annual draft. Not the month, but a tweak to the hour the picks start coming off the board. Paris is six hours ahead of New York, so French basketball fans eager to see history had to stay up into the wee hours of Thursday morning to see as the only countries with three players drafted in the top 10 picks of an And as the first round was a coming to an end, a total of four Frenchmen had been drafted: Zaccharie Risacher.
Alex Sarr. Tidjane Salaun. Pacome Dadiet.
The question going into Wednesday night’s draft was whether Risacher or Sarr would hear their name called as the No. 1 pick overall by Commissioner Adam Silver, and become the second straight Frenchman to be take first overall on the heels of last season’s . made Risacher that player.
“If I had to give him one advice to him, it would be to ‘just be yourself, don’t change for anything, don’t let the pressure change you, don’t let fame, money whatever.’” Wembanyama said during a French national team news conference in Paris Thursday ahead of the Olympics. “But I know Zach, he’s got it.
” Washington took 7-footer Sarr at No. 2, making a second straight draft the Wizards selected a player from France. Then the NBA draft really took on a decidedly French flavor with Charlotte helping France make history by selecting Salaun at No.
6 overall. France made it a quartet when the New York Knicks drafted Dadiet as the 25th pick overall. Dadiet, who turns 19 in July, i.