France's Zaccharie Risacher was the No. 1 pick from the HawksMike Lawrence/NBAE via Getty Images
France made history during round one of the NBA Draft last night with No. 1 Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks), No. 2 Alexandre Sarr (Wizards) and No. 6 Tidjane Salaun (Hornets) making it the first country outside of the U.S. with three of the top 10 picks in the modern draft era. Risacher and Sarr also gave France its most top five picks in a single draft. Meanwhile, Excel Sports Management collected the most first-round picks with six, followed by WME Sports with five, Wasserman with four and CAA Sports with three.
The Neustadt Group's Doug Neustadt touted the No. 1 pick while WME Sports amassed the most top five and top ten picks with No. 2, No. 5 and No. 10. Bill Duffy led agent picks for the second year in a row, either representing or co-representing all five of WME Sports' picks: No. 2, No. 5, No. 10, No. 13 and No. 23. WME Sports in 2023 snagged the most first round picks with five, Excel Sports Management in 2022 got seven, CAA Sports in 2021 got eight and Excel Sports Management and CAA Sports in 2020 tied for the most with five each.
This is now the second consecutive year a player representing France went No. 1 overall, following the Spurs’ selection of Victor Wembanyama in 2023, and the first time since 2003 that the top two picks didn’t go to college. Last year, only half of the top 10 picks hailed from U.S. schools. Kentucky, UConn, Colorado and Baylor had a four-way tie for the most first round picks at two each, with both from Kentucky and UConn and one from Colorado in the top ten.
