2024 NBA Draft: France dominates with Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Tidjane Salaun leading Round 1

The French invasion of the NBA continues.

On Wednesday night, Frenchmen were selected at No. 1 and No. 2 in pro basketball’s annual amateur draft, with the Atlanta Hawks taking JL Bourg forward Zaccharie Risacher No. 1 and the Washington Wizards selecting Perth 7-footer Alex Sarr.

Not far behind, the Charlotte Hornets drafted Cholet forward Tidjane Salaun at No. 6, making it three French teenagers as lottery picks. Risacher, 19, of Lyon, France, literally followed in the footsteps of Parisian sensation Victor Wembanyama by having NBA commissioner Adam Silver call his name at the start of the draft in New York. Sarr, also 19, of Toulouse was right behind him, and Salaun is 18. A fourth French player in the first round, Pacome Dadiet, was selected 25th by the New York Knicks.

“I think personally it means a lot for all of us, but also for our country — and that’s what makes it so special,” Risacher said. “I know a lot of French (people) stayed up all night to watch this, so, that’s amazing. That’s amazing for French basketball and I am so happy to be a part of something special for my country.”

Read Sam Vecenie’s winners and losers of NBA Draft Round 1.

Beyond their shared nationality, however, the path to that draft stage in Brooklyn for the newest NBA draftees from France was almost nothing like the path Wembanyama blazed last summer in going first to San Antonio.

C’est la France frère 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

— Wemby (@wemby) June 27, 2024

Whereas Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4, never-seen-anything-like-him budding superstar was the presumptive top pick for months leading up to the 2023 draft, there was no consensus No. 1 prospect this year. As late as this week, NBA scouts and league executives were unsure about who the Hawks would choose. Atlanta selected Risacher from a muddled top tier that included Sarr, Connecticut center Donovan Clingan and wing Stephon Castle, and Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard.

Rounding out the top 5 of the 2024 NBA draft, the Houston Rockets selected Sheppard third; the San Antonio Spurs picked Castle fourth (where he will pair with Wembanyama), and the Detroit Pistons selected G League Ignite forward Ron Holland fifth.

Clingan, a 7-foot-2 tree trunk who was arguably the best defender in college last year, fell to the Portland Trail Blazers at No. 7. The Spurs selected Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham eighth and traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Zach Edey, the 7-foot-4 center and two-time national player of the year at Purdue, was drafted ninth by the Memphis Grizzlies. Cody Williams, a 19-year-old wing from Colorado, went 10th to the Utah Jazz.

Risacher is a 6-foot-9 forward who averaged nearly 11 points and four rebounds playing in France’s top pro league last season. He is a stout defender who shot nearly 39 percent from 3-point range, but his foray into the NBA will not come with the enormous weight of expectation and hype that rested on Wembanyama’s shoulders at this time last year — a weight Wemby carried with aplomb on his way to winning Rookie of the Year honors.

“I feel like Victor had an amazing season and obviously that’s inspiring me a lot,” Risacher said. “I want to contribute and help (the Hawks) win, and I feel like I can show something great like I did my rookie season in France this season. It’s really exciting and I am ready to do whatever it takes to get on the court.”

Risacher comes to an Atlanta franchise in which the biggest star — Trae Young — could be on the trading block, but where there is room for Risacher to compete for playing time on the wing. While 6-foot-8 forward Jalen Johnson averaged 16 points and 8.7 rebounds last season and is only 22, Sadiq Bey is a restricted free agent coming off a torn knee ligament, and the Hawks are seeking to trade De’Andre Hunter. Atlanta finished 36-46 and in 10th in the East, and were bounced out of the Play-In tournament in the first round.

Risacher was born in Malaga, Spain, but grew up in Lyon, France, and his father was a French Olympian and silver medalist in basketball in 2000. Risacher was a member of France’s U19 World Cup championship team last summer and played for JL Bourg last season. His team played in France’s top pro league and a second division of teams competing all across Europe.

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Sarr, meanwhile, averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in Australia’s top pro league last season. He was the first international prospect to play for Overtime Elite in the U.S. His brother, Olivier, played for the Oklahoma City Thunder last season on a two-way contract, and his father played professionally in Senegal. Sarr came off the bench for the Perth Wildcats in Australia’s pro league last season and averaged 1.5 blocks per game while shooting nearly 52 percent from the field.

Sarr is expected to be a key piece of the Wizards’ extensive rebuild. Before the draft Wednesday, Washington traded Deni Avdija to Portland for Malcolm Brogdon and, perhaps more importantly, the 14th pick in the 2024 draft. He will team with countryman Bilal Coulibaly, who was drafted seventh by the Wizards out of France in last year’s draft.

Portland went on to draft Pittsburgh’s Bub Carrington with the No. 14 pick.

Saluan is 6-foot-9 and averaged 9.6 points and 4.0 rebounds playing for Cholet in France’s top pro league.

France, of course, is hosting the 2024 Olympics this summer in Paris, and the French team is a medal contender. Wembanyama is on the preliminary roster, as is NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, Coulibaly, Nicolas Batum, Killian Hayes and Evan Fournier. The country’s three teenaged NBA inductees — Risacher, Sarr and Saluan — are not, as the French federation is valuing experience over youth and star potential.

For the first time, the NBA Draft is being held over two nights, with Round 1 happening Wednesday at the Barclays Center and Round 2 on Thursday. Perhaps the dominant storyline set to unfold on Day 2 is the status of Lakers star LeBron James’ son, Bronny, who entered the draft after just one season at USC.

Who takes the 19-year-old Bronny, and in which round, will spark enormous interest and likely inspire chatter about where his dad — arguably the greatest player ever and the NBA’s all-time scoring champ — goes as a free agent this summer. If the younger James is drafted and makes an NBA roster, he and his father would become the first father-son duo to play in the league at the same time.

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2024 NBA Draft.

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(Photo of Zaccharie Risacher and NBA commissioner Adam Silver: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)