Alex Sarr is the latest player to spend a season in Australia's NBL before becoming a top-10 pick in the NBA draft. Here's the story of how a player born in France went from Madrid to Atlanta to Perth to the NBA.
How Alex Sarr 's year with Perth Wildcats prepared him for the NBA as NBL Next Stars program's latest winWhen NBA commissioner Adam Silver read Alex Sarr 's name out as the second overall pick in the NBA Draft, it wasn't just Washington and France rejoicing, it was Perth as well.
Each of the NBL's 10 teams has an extra spot on its roster for a Next Stars player, with the salary paid to that player sitting outside of the salary cap. The spots can go to both local and international players. LaMelo Ball spent the 2019 season with the Illawarra Hawks before being taken third overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2020 draft. He has since made an All-Star team."It is exciting on a local stage for us Australians to watch these future NBA top picks and future stars playing in our league, but it's also really important for our status in global basketball.
Born in Bordeaux, France, Sarr grew up in Toulouse. In 2019, Sarr moved to Spain to play in the Real Madrid academy for two seasons. "It was clear from the outset that he has some incredible physical tools that project him towards the NBA level, a seven-footer with such an incredible plus wingspan, but it was his mobility on the floor and his versatile skillset that grabbed my attention.
"We obviously did a lot of background work on Alex and what helped us was that we had a lot of mutual connections through the previous stops where he'd played," Mills told ABC Sport."We had quite a few people he'd worked with and were very familiar with his agency, WME. Having selected the NBL's most successful franchise, Sarr needed to find a way to fit into what the Wildcats already had going.
"He comes from a great support network within his family, his parents, his older brother, who has NBA experience. He is mature, quiet, but a very friendly and intelligent young man. "His path to get to where he's getting drafted … it's a very unique path but it's one that has worked well for him and plays to his advantage."
"The fact that we were able to combine having the league MVP in Bryce Cotton and the number two draft pick on the same roster and still have a successful season was really impressive. "There is going to be huge expectations, not just internally but more so externally, so if you're a top pick the expectation is you've got to be a franchise-changer and an All-Star, and it's not always the case," he said.
"Defensively, he's got incredible switchability — he's able to switch out onto smaller, quicker guards and keep them in front — and he's also got really good instincts as a rim protector that can roam the court and impact with his size and length. That was evident from day one with us in the NBL, which was unique for a kid at 18 to come in and make an impact right away.
The signs are good early for the Sarr camp. The Wizards, understanding that life as a young big man in the league can be tough, have already added veteran centre Jonas Valanciunas on a three-year deal.
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