More than ever, the French contingent present on the NBA courts is filled with players with undeniable talent.

Invited to the First Team while he followed the Olympic Games in Paris, Carmelo Anthony did not mince his words about French basketball.

France had things to prove at the Paris Olympic Games, after being eliminated in the group stages at the 2023 World Championships.

And if the start of the tournament was laborious, the Blues managed to climb to the final again and then hold their own against the United States for a large part of the match, before losing to the battering rams signed by Stephen Curry.

It was therefore a great advertisement for French basketball, especially since the most valuable players of this squad play in the Euroleague.

Guerschon Yabusele, Isaïa Cordinier, Mathias Lessort: none of them have an NBA contract but were of monumental help in finishing with the silver medal around their neck.

French basketball, a pioneer according to Carmelo Anthony
However, all this does not take anything away from the French representatives in the big league with a contingent that grows year after year.

We have just witnessed two consecutive first picks from France with Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher, the first having moreover rolled over the competition in 2023-24. Invited to the First Team, Carmelo Anthony even sees the foundations of a big upheaval for the orange ball.

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What French basketball has created over the last few years has opened doors internationally, all over the world.

The fact that when you see that in our league in the NBA, you see that every year, there are 2 or 3 French players who present themselves at the draft and who are selected, I think that it starts to open a lot of doors.

Given that people see Wembanyama play, they saw him come from France, they see the other young players who arrive in the NBA and who come from France.

There is a Frenchman who played in the NBL (Alexandre Sarr, editor’s note) and who was drafted afterwards. So that’s a lot of French players who were able to open the door for other players.

For a long time, French players arrived in the NBA either through the NCAA (Joakim Noah for example) or had to settle for a late first round pick (Tony Parker, Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert…). Today, however, they are regularly among the top players and this should be confirmed once again in 2025, while the young leader Nolan Traoré is among the big favorites to join the Top 5.

French basketball is increasingly establishing itself as a reference, including in the NBA with the arrival of many nuggets with immense talent.

Carmelo Anthony even sees him as a true pioneer for the discipline, on an international scale.