Nolan Traore

[_jin]

Couldnt find a thread about him so figured I'd make one since he deserves one and you'll probably start hearing more and more about about him as he's just started to play in the french league.

Nolan Traore is a 6'3" french point guard, born 05/28/2006 so about to turn 18. He's eligible to be drafted in 2025 and is projected to be top10 in most mock drafts so far. He's the brother of Armel Traore, a decent PF in the french league, former teammate of Wemby at Mets 92.

He's the best french prospect outside of Wemby alongside Noa Essengue and Nathan Soliman and is considered in France as the best PG since Tony Parker. He's a very complete player, an excellent playmaker and floor general, great scorer, decent shooter with potential and plays hard on defense.

He's been playing for Pole France this season, the french national academy team that plays in the 3rd division, and has been the MVP of his division so far. Late march he signed with Saint Quentin in the french top division since they lost their starting PG to a season ending injury and became their starting PG from the get-go. He's averaging 10.3 pts and 5.4 assists in 20mins per game over a 7games span where his team went 4-3 and is about to secure a playoff spot. He has shown an outstanding ability to create shots for himself and others.

2 weeks ago Saint Quentin faced ASVEL, one of the best teams in the league and lost 79-77 but Traore had a great game with 18p and 8a in 21mins. A week later he had his best game to date with 25p and 5a against Chalon, making the clutch shot that sent the game into OT.

Watch on YouTube

[remi_222]

Good idea ! this thread is gonna be loud untill next draft !!

[_jin]

Good idea ! this thread is gonna be loud untill next draft !!

Yea I'm sure he's gonna make a lot of noise next season and I wouldnt be surprised if he ends up top3 in the draft behind Cooper and Ace.

I forgot to mention in my post that he has a big decision to make this summer as he's only signed until the end of the season with Saint Quentin. I hope he goes the Wemby/Risacher route of not going to a top team but rather a decent team that will prioritize his development and try to showcase him just like Mets and JLB have done for Wemby and Risacher.

[coutournant]

We should make a topic about french prospects as many of them are lottery pick projected : Wemby, Coulibaly last year, Alex Sarr, Risacher and Salaun this year, Traore and Essengue next year, Soliman, Yimga and Facorat in the future.
French basketball future is bright !

[remi_222]

Good idea ! this thread is gonna be loud untill next draft !!

Yea I'm sure he's gonna make a lot of noise next season and I wouldnt be surprised if he ends up top3 in the draft behind Cooper and Ace.

I forgot to mention in my post that he has a big decision to make this summer as he's only signed until the end of the season with Saint Quentin. I hope he goes the Wemby/Risacher route of not going to a top team but rather a decent team that will prioritize his development and try to showcase him just like Mets and JLB have done for Wemby and Risacher.

He also received multiple college offers (Gonzaga, Alabama and Xavier are known for now). But with his role FOR SURE getting bigger next yr, in a great environment, it would be stupid to go play college bball.
He also qualified for the playoff, so more highlights coming this week !!!

[_jin]

We should make a topic about french prospects as many of them are lottery pick projected : Wemby, Coulibaly last year, Alex Sarr, Risacher and Salaun this year, Traore and Essengue next year, Soliman, Yimga and Facorat in the future.
French basketball future is bright !

I think just like college prospects they deserve their own thread, but for most of the guys you mentionned it's probably a bit early. Noa Essengue will probably have his own thread at the start of next season if he gets on a good team.

Good idea ! this thread is gonna be loud untill next draft !!

Yea I'm sure he's gonna make a lot of noise next season and I wouldnt be surprised if he ends up top3 in the draft behind Cooper and Ace.

I forgot to mention in my post that he has a big decision to make this summer as he's only signed until the end of the season with Saint Quentin. I hope he goes the Wemby/Risacher route of not going to a top team but rather a decent team that will prioritize his development and try to showcase him just like Mets and JLB have done for Wemby and Risacher.

He also received multiple college offers (Gonzaga, Alabama and Xavier are known for now). But with his role FOR SURE getting bigger next yr, in a great environment, it would be stupid to go play college bball.
He also qualified for the playoff, so more highlights coming this week !!!

Yea I totally agree, I dont want to see him go to US college. As a french-american I'm familiar with both systems and I'm convinced the AAU/NCAA model is becoming more and more deprecated, euro prospects should definitely stay in Europe, and I hope the experience of guys like Adama Bal or Aday Mara whose stocks have taken completely shrinked will influence their decision.

Saint-Quentin is a pretty good place, they could build around him and they're fairly competitive. As a Cholet fan I'd love to see him paired with Soren Bracq next season but it's probably far-fetched. Teams like Ulm or Badalone will probably take a run at him as they love to recruit NBA prospects.

[coutournant]

Yeah I meant one topic for all the french prospects But some of them deserve their own topic your right
Le Mans could be another good destination as they hired a great coach for prospects (Guillaume Vizade).
Bourg too as they made an outstanding work with Risacher, but they still have Benitez as a prospect at PG

French Elite is more and more favourable for prospects, many teams and coaches changed their mentality and the potential is huge here

[clyde21]

he, along with Huge Gonzalez, look really good on first glance, better than Topic to me imo, but it was just a first glance we'll see how this develops.

[bananazn]

Nolan Traore looked absolutely incredible in that Hoop Summmit game he operated the ball screen at such a high level making the right reads out of the P&R and played under control throughout his PT

VJ edgecombe said that he was the best floor general he played with...!

[sisibilio]

Yea I totally agree, I dont want to see him go to US college. As a french-american I'm familiar with both systems and I'm convinced the AAU/NCAA model is becoming more and more deprecated, euro prospects should definitely stay in Europe, and I hope the experience of guys like Adama Bal or Aday Mara whose stocks have taken completely shrinked will influence their decision.

Saint-Quentin is a pretty good place, they could build around him and they're fairly competitive. As a Cholet fan I'd love to see him paired with Soren Bracq next season but it's probably far-fetched. Teams like Ulm or Badalone will probably take a run at him as they love to recruit NBA prospects.

I agree, but with the kind of money they are starting to get via NIL it's going to be a no brainer taking the NCAA route. Secure the bag and worry about developement later.

[Gilles]

He will be 18 before this upcoming draft. Why is he considered eligible only for 2025?

[remi_222]

The French League always has been competitive, but the basics in term of team playing werent really understood by players who at a very young age were physically dominating but tactically and skill wise were far away.
You also have to think that, as a european league, if you're bottom 2 or 3 (depends the country) you go down a division (which means cutting the budget radically), so the team needs to see long term and in the past, teams were reluctent to give the chance to young french players, prefering betting on US talents (max 5 per team in french bball rules) in order to secure a spot for not be relegated.
Now with the price that the NBA has to pay to the european team, it's worth something to expose young player so if they go to the NBA, a half million euros is coming (which is huge for a team like St Quentin for example).

But with that, you have now random young french players thinking that they can make it, but actually cant. Because the bridge is fully open now, everybody think they have a chance.
But on the other end, thats why they all understood that there are diff ways to go to the NBA (NCAA like Bal - he's returning to Santa Clara), NBL (Dieng, Rupert, Sarr), 2 ways (Olivier Sarr).
With the diff variety of paths for coming to the NBA, the mentality has changed, and now we're harvesting bc we've seen amazing prospects falling down ...

[_jin]

Yea I totally agree, I dont want to see him go to US college. As a french-american I'm familiar with both systems and I'm convinced the AAU/NCAA model is becoming more and more deprecated, euro prospects should definitely stay in Europe, and I hope the experience of guys like Adama Bal or Aday Mara whose stocks have taken completely shrinked will influence their decision.

Saint-Quentin is a pretty good place, they could build around him and they're fairly competitive. As a Cholet fan I'd love to see him paired with Soren Bracq next season but it's probably far-fetched. Teams like Ulm or Badalone will probably take a run at him as they love to recruit NBA prospects.

I agree, but with the kind of money they are starting to get via NIL it's going to be a no brainer taking the NCAA route. Secure the bag and worry about developement later.

Yea I'm afraid some kids will fall in the money trap but I hope the legit NBA talents out there will make the wise decision for their career. Hopefully the examples of Wemby, Risacher or Salaun will influence them in the right way.

He will be 18 before this upcoming draft. Why is he considered eligible only for 2025?

Players are eligible for the draft the year they turn 19 which is next year for Traore.

The French League always has been competitive, but the basics in term of team playing werent really understood by players who at a very young age were physically dominating but tactically and skill wise were far away.
You also have to think that, as a european league, if you're bottom 2 or 3 (depends the country) you go down a division (which means cutting the budget radically), so the team needs to see long term and in the past, teams were reluctent to give the chance to young french players, prefering betting on US talents (max 5 per team in french bball rules) in order to secure a spot for not be relegated.
Now with the price that the NBA has to pay to the european team, it's worth something to expose young player so if they go to the NBA, a half million euros is coming (which is huge for a team like St Quentin for example).

But with that, you have now random young french players thinking that they can make it, but actually cant. Because the bridge is fully open now, everybody think they have a chance.
But on the other end, thats why they all understood that there are diff ways to go to the NBA (NCAA like Bal - he's returning to Santa Clara), NBL (Dieng, Rupert, Sarr), 2 ways (Olivier Sarr).
With the diff variety of paths for coming to the NBA, the mentality has changed, and now we're harvesting bc we've seen amazing prospects falling down ...

Great post. The mentality of french players have indeed changed a lot over the past couple decades, I remember when top french players would wait until they were in their prime to consider entering the draft, while nowadays every guy who has a slim chance will try to take it. I was surprised to learn a couple weeks ago that there are like 15 french players in this year's draft since only 5 or 6 have been ranked in mock drafts but even those who have very little chance are giving it a shot.

I wasnt aware Bal is returning to Santa Clara, I mean it's probably a better choice than to enter the draft this season. It's sad how he has disappeared from every radar when he was mocked as a 1st round pick a year ago. But there are so many players in college basketball that it's really hard to stand out, while in Europe there's probably one or two NBA prospects at most per team so it's easier to make some noise.
Most importantly, playing against pros, whether it's in europe or in the NBL, is infinitely better than any college program. If Zion had grown up in Europe, he'd have been playing against grown ass vets who arent afraid of him starting at 14yo instead of roflstomping kids his own age who were half his size and had 1/10 of his skills and shat their pants when seeing him in AAU and college and he would be such a better player.

[Chuck Everett]

This kid is the real deal and I am expecting him to be a top 3-5 pick in 2025 (Flagg, Bailey and Newell, I expect to be the three in consideration).

[bananazn]

First playoff game for Nolan Traore against an Euroleague team( a very bad one tho) 14 pts 7 assists 1 reb with only 2 to 5/10 FG 0/3 3pt
His first step is actually insane

[_jin]

First playoff game for Nolan Traore against an Euroleague team( a very bad one tho) 14 pts 7 assists 1 reb with only 2 to 5/10 FG 0/3 3pt
His first step is actually insane

Yea that first step is something else. His drives are deadly, he can drive to the rim, can pull up from midrange, or find the open teammate. His shot is a work in progress, he missed all his 3 but he has good form and he's a good FT and middy shooter. He's gonna be a stud.

[_jin]

Read on Twitter

[bananazn]

Half time 38-30 for Saint Quentin led by Nolan Traore with 11 pts 3 rb 2 as.... if his 3pt improves he's going top 3

[_jin]

going off in the 3rd, ASVEL is struggling to stop him, and his shot is falling today. Great atmosphere in the arena.

Read on Twitter

[_jin]

Saint Quentin threw that game hard, lost in OT. Traore made back-to-back 3 in the final minute of OT to keep the game in range. Absolute stud in his first playoffs at 17.
25pts, 7ast, 4rbs, 1stl, 5to, 8/17 FG, 4/6 3P, 5/5 FT

At this point with the dearth at PG in the french NT, I'd seriously consider him.