The NBA just now released a preliminary list of all players who have so far declared themselves eligible for the 2024 Draft, which will be held on June 26 in Brooklyn. Among the many names in the cauldron are those of two players we are admiring on the Serie A fields this season, although neither of them is Italian. The first was already known: Mouhamed Faye, a long player from Reggio Emilia in his first pro season who, by the way, achieved his own career-high with 24 points and 10 rebounds against Napoli over the weekend.
The second is instead Quinn Ellis, a British point guard who is wearing the Aquila Basket Trento jersey this season and played for Capo d’Orlando in the previous two. Class of 2003, born in Sheffield, Ellis is scoring. 6.0 points on average in his first season in the Serie A.
Currently, neither appears in the Mock Drafts that are circulating.
Far more numerous is the representation of Spain (9 players in the Draft) and France (11, including Zaccharie Risascher) among the European countries. This year’s Draft is considered quite weak as an overall talent level, at the moment it is still unclear who might be the first overall call-up. Possible names are many, from Risacher himself to Matas Buzelis, a Lithuanian who played in the G-League this season, to Alex Sarr, who is coming off a season in Australia, and Donovan Clingan, an NCAA champion with Connecticut.
Milan, Italy. A graduate in Labor Management and Communication for Organizations from Catholic University, I founded BasketUniverso in 2011. Yes, I root for Orlando Magic and do my best not to hide it.
