The draft is here. One of the most anticipated nights in the NBA, the one in which the future stars of the League have their first contact with professional basketball. In which franchises dream of turning their luck around and starting to build winning projects. A night, in short, of illusion, which this year will be followed with great interest in Spain … And also in Tokyo.
Usman Garuba, 19-year-old power forward of Real Madrid, will know his immediate future at dawn from Thursday to Friday (02:00 Spanish time, in #Vamos). If all the predictions are correct, the Spanish will be chosen from the top 20 positions and hopefully it will be close to the top 10. That will undoubtedly make Garuba play next year in the NBA, since he would access a salary important enough to pay the exit clause that he has signed with the white team (according to journalist Donatas Urbonas, It is three million and it would go up one more to the next course). If he leaves, he will be the 18th Spaniard to make the leap and the first since Juancho in 2016 (That fall his brother Willy also left, drafted a year earlier). The former student of Estudiantes was chosen in 15th place and is the fourth national player selected in such a high position (Pau Gasol was third in 2001; Ricky, fifth in 2009; and Fran Vázquez, eleventh in 2005). That explains the value they place on Garuba in the United States and the importance of her position tonight.
Saints Aldama
But Garuba is not the only Spaniard who has appeared in the draft this summer. There is also Santi Aldama, a Canarian player who has spent the last two years at the University of Loyola Maryland and that he aims to come out in the second round (positions 30 to 60). Aldama and Garuba are old acquaintances in the lower categories of the National Team, together they won the European Under-18 Championship two years ago and, although they both finished in the ideal quintet, Aldama was the MVP of that tournament.
Stars
Beyond the Spanish interests, this draft has aims to be one of the most remembered during the next few years. At least the expectation is tremendous with four players as clear candidates for the first four positions, in which they will be lucky to choose, in descending order, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers y Toronto Raptors. According to all the experts and scouts, those four players point to future stars of the League. And among them the one who shines the most is Cade Cunningham. Oklahoma State base, with his 2.03 there are those who already compare him with Luka Doncic although, in his favor, he has a better defensive performance than the Slovenian. A player who can be generational and that it would be a real surprise if he did not take first place tonight. He himself seems to have it clear and has already declared that Detroit is the place where he would be most excited to play next season.
Behind him, Jalen Suggs, a classic point guard, Jalen Green, a scoring guard, and Evan Mobley, a center who does everything, the positions of the 2 al 4. But this litter has more interesting players, including other foreigners. Some can even come out above Garuba, like Australian Josh Giddey and Turkish Besiktas center Alperen Sengun. And in Barcelona they will also be attentive, since his recent signing, the Lithuanian guard Rokas Jokubaitis, could go to the United States without even debuting with the culé shirt.
