By George Efkarpides / info@eurohoops.net
In a draft stacked with potential superstar talent, Luka Doncic is expected to be just one of three European players selected in the first
Specifically, Bosnian forward Dzanan Musa and French guard Elie Okobo are the only other European players expected to be selected in the first round.
Doncic is projected to be a top-5 pick while Musa and Okobo are not expected to be in the lottery. And that’s a bit strange, considering the recent success of European talent in the NBA.
On one hand, Okobo was one of the draft’s sleepers, before his 44-point performance in the French Playoffs and one the other hand Musa is scouted, like Doncic, for years and he was considered an NBA prospect from a very early age.
Eurohoops already presented some of the best European prospects in this year’s draft with Charalampopoulos and Bitadze having withdrawn their names from the draft. And by any account, this is expected to be a bad year for Europeans in the NBA draft, despite the success of Doncic.
Even players well known to the US public, like Kansas’ Ukrainian guard Svi Mykhailiuk are just hoping for a spot in the second round.
On the other hand, many of the Europeans will be drafted in the second round and stashed in Europe, a practice that is used even with US players than end up playing in Europe during the first years of their professional career. And like it happened many times in the past, a drafted European may never play in the NBA.
By the numbers, this is expected to be a mediocre year for European talent and maybe less than ten Europeans will be drafted. It’s a far cry from the 2016 record of 26 international players in the NBA draft. Still, it means very little in the big picture.
NBA needs talent and will continue to try and find it around the Globe, no matter which will be the country of each player.