The NBA Draft 2021 presented by State Farm®, will take place on the night of Thursday 07/29 to Friday 07/30 at 2:00 a.m. and will be broadcast on beIN SPORTS 1. Several French prospects presented themselves: Joel Ayayi (Gonzaga), Juhann Begarin (Paris Basket), Yves Pons (Tennessee) and Olivier Sarr (Kentucky).
Like Juhann Begarin, several players were trained in LNB before being drafted in the NBA. Please find, below, several key figures on the relationship between LNB players and clubs and the NBA Draft of recent years. We realize the importance of French training before making the transition to the NBA.
Some important facts showing the connection between NBA and LNB
- 31 LNB players (including 28 French) have been drafted directly in the NBA since 1997.
- Cholet Basket is the LNB club that has seen the most French NBA players (7): Killian Hayes, Rudy Gobert, Kevin Seraphin, Rodrigue Beaubois, Nando de Colo, Mickaël Gelabale, Antoine Rigaudeau
- Cholet Basket and Pau Lacq Orthez are among the only 5 European clubs to have provided two club-trained players for the NBA Draft the same year: 2009 with Rodrigue Beaubois and Nando de Colo for Cholet and 2003 with Mickaël Pietrus and Boris Diaw for the Elan Bearnais. The other 3 clubs are Real de Madrid (2005), Fenerbahçe Ülker (2008) and Badalone (2009)
- Pau Lacq Orthez and Cholet are in the top 10 of the international teams with the most drafted players:
- Pau Lacq Orthez (5): Georghe Muresan (1993), Mickael Pietrus (2003), Boris Diaw (2003), Johan Petro (2005), Elie Okobo (2018)
- Cholet (4): Rodrigue Beaubois (2009), Nando de Colo (2009), Kevin Seraphin (2010), Rudy Gobert (2013)
- French NBA champions: 5 of the 6 French NBA champions come from LNB training: Tony Parker, Ian Mahinmi and Rodrigue Beaubois, Boris Diaw, Axel Toupane
Here is the list of 29 LNB players drafted:
- 2020
- Theo Maledon, LDLC ASVEL (Second Round; 34th)
- 2019
- Sekou Doumbouya, Limoges CSP (Premier Tour ; 15e)
- 2018
- Elie Okobo, Pau Lacq Orthez (Second Round; 31st)
- 2017
- Frank Ntilikina, SIG Strasbourg (Premier Tour ; 8e)
- Matthias Lessort, Nanterre 92 (Second Round; 50th)
- 2016
- Guerschon Yabusele, Rouen (First Round; 16th)
- David Michineau, Chalon-sur-Saône (Second Round; 39th)
- Isaïa Cordinier, Denain (Second Round; 44th)
- Petr Cornelie, Le Mans (Second Round; 39th)
- 2014
- Clint Capela, Elan Chalon (Premier Tour; 25e)
- Damien Inglis, Chorale de Roanne (Second Round; 31st)
- Louis Labeyrie, Paris-Levallois Basket (Second Round; 57th)
- 2013
- Rudy Gobert, Cholet Basket (Premier Tour ; 27e)
- Livio Jean Charles, ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne (First Round; 28th)
- 2012
- Evan Fournier, Potters Basket 86 (First Round; 20th)
- 2010
- Kevin Seraphin, Cholet Basket (Premier Tour ; 17e)
- Pape Sy, Le Havre (Second Round; 53rd)
- 2009
- Rodrigue Beaubois, Cholet Basket (First Round; 25th)
- Nando De Colo, Cholet Basket (Second Round; 53rd)
- 2008
- Alexis Ajinca, Hyères Toulon (First Round; 20th)
- Nicolas Batum, Le Mans (First Tour; 25th)
- 2006
- Oleksiy Pecherov, Paris Basket Racing (Premier Tour ; 18e)
- 2005
- Johan Petro, Pau Lacq Orthez (First Round; 25th)
- Ian Mahinmi, Le Havre (First Tour; 28th)
- 2004
- Viktor Sanikidze, JDA Dijon (Second Round; 42nd)
- 2003
- Mickaël Pietrus, Pau-Orthez (First Round; 11th)
- Boris Diaw, Pau-Orthez (First Round; 21st)
- Paccelis Morlende, Dijon (Second Round; 50th)
- 2001
- Tony Parker, Paris Basket Racing (Premier Tour ; 28e)
- 1999
- Fred Weis, Limoges (Premier Tour ; 15e)
- 1997
- Alain Digbeu, Villeurbanne (Second round; 50th)
- 2020
