By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Basketball Champions League is an interesting way to enter the NBA and is becoming a common path. Multiple prospects have used an avenue packed with experience from all around the Old Continent, a competitive and also friendly environment to develop their talents, before being drafted into the best league in the world.
The trend continues heading to the 2025 NBA draft. Picking up from our list of the Top 10 candidates for the next draft, Saint-Quentin’s Nolan Traore is breaking records en route to the NBA.
The 18-year-old French point guard is far from the only young upstart currently displaying his talents in the BCL and building a bid to play in the NBA. However, he is the youngest player in league history to score 67 points in his first five appearances. Especially reviewing the list of players directly linked from the Champions League to the annual draft of the NBA, this is an impressive feat.
Early projections for the 2025 draft put Traore on a potential new record, the player from the BCL pool to earn the highest pick. With plenty of room for changes, until the NBA teams finalize the process of selecting youngsters, the promising prospect is striving to make things happen for Saint-Quentin, enjoying a key role and plenty of action with the ball in his hands. More opportunities are coming up with the French club moving to the Play-Ins and a second opportunity to advance to the Round of 16.
Awaiting the next exciting chapters in the career of Traore, Eurohoops rewinds to 16+1 players going from the Champions League to the NBA draft.
Ntilikina, the pioneer
From the inaugural edition of the BCL and 14 appearances with SIG Strasbourg, Frank Ntilikina became the first player from the league to be drafted by an NBA team. Picked eighth overall by the New York Knicks set the record standing until Tidjane Salaun was picked sixth overall in the 2024 draft. The French guard logged 336 appearances in the NBA before returning to Europe and signing with Partizan Mozzart Bet last June.
Three more players from the 2016-17 season of the Champions League, all among the well-documented links between the league based in North America and Mega Leks, went into the 2017 draft. Vlatko Cancar was picked 49th, Ognjen Jaramaz 58th, and Alpha Kaba 60th. The Slovenian forward, a veteran of 14 BCL games, remains a member of the Denver Nuggets since 2019.
Logging four appearances with the Fraport Skyliners in the 2016-17 edition of the Champions League, Isaac Bonga was selected with the 39th overall pick of the 2018 draft. The German forward played in 149 NBA games before returning to Europe in 2022.
Montenegrin Marko Simonovic, a current player of Bahcesehir Koleji, played for Petrol Olimpija in eight games of the 2018-19 BCL season, one year before being selected with the 44th pick of the 2020 draft. He went on to play 16 games with the Chicago Bulls.
Croatian Luka Samanic went from 12 games in the 2017-18 installment of the BCL with Petrol Olimpija to the 19th spot in the 2019 draft. He is a veteran of 86 NBA appearances.
Sengun, Salaun, and more
The Houston Rockets leader, Alperen Sengun also played in the Champions League. Matured way beyond his age on the court, he comfortably outplayed veteran centers through the 2019-20 installment of the BCL with Teksut Bandirma. After putting up 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest, the next year with Besiktas Icrypex included three appearances in the FIBA Europe Cup. From there to the 16th pick of the 2021 draft.
Moreover, Salaun made his way to 18 games of the 2023-24 edition of the Champions League and was named the Best Young Player before being picked sixth overall last June and moving his talents from Cholet to the Charlotte Hornets. Numerous similarities between the native of Paris and Traore include being a young leader of a French club in the BCL.
German Ariel Hukporti made five brief showings in the 2018-19 installment of the BCL with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and returned to the German club last season for one more appearance on the way to being selected with the last pick of the 2024 draft and eventually settling in the 2024-25 roster of the New York Knicks.
Czech Vit Krejci went from 13 BCL games with Casademont Zaragoza in the 2019-20 campaign to the 37th pick of the 2020 draft. He is currently navigating his fourth year in the NBA, third with the Atlanta Hawks.
From the BCL and back
Drafted with the 55th pick of the 2018 draft, Arnoldas Kulboka logged two NBA appearances with the Charlotte Hornets. Turning heads with SikeliArchivi Capo d’Orlando, he was the Best Young Player of the 2017-18 installment of the Champions League. In 2018-19, the Lithuanian combo forward played 12 more BCL games with Brose Bamberg and was back for six appearances as a member of RETAbet Bilbao in the 2020-21 season.
Ukrainian combo guard Issuf Sanon was featured in 15 BCL games with Petrol Olimpija en route to the 44th pick of the 2018 draft. The Donetsk native has yet to play in the league based in North America, but he is back in the top-tier club continental competition of FIBA Europe as a player of VEF Riga this season.
Silent picks
Several players went from the Champions League to the draft but have not yet moved their talents to the NBA. This applies to Vanja Marinkovic. The Serbian swingman was featured in 12 games of the 2016-17 BCL with Partizan and selected with the 60th pick of the 2019 draft. After spending the next five years in Spain, he reunited with the Belgrade outfit last June.
Before returning to Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv in November, Yam Madar logged three appearances in the Champions League with the Tel Aviv outfit on the way to being picked with the 47th selection of the 2020 draft.
In addition, Yannick Nzosa was a veteran of ten BCL games with Unicaja en route to the 54th pick of the 2022 draft. He remains with the Malaga outfit but is currently loaned to Flexicar Fuenlabrada.
Plus Furkan Korkmaz
A notable case concerns Furkan Korkmaz. The Turkish sharpshooter was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016. After becoming the 26th pick, he played for Banvit in the 2016-17 installment of the Champions League and was the first Best Young Player of the league, emerging as a necessary expection to accompany the 16 aforementioned players. He went on a long stint with the Sixers stretching from 2017 to 2024.
Photo Credit: FIBA