nba draft recap: the future is european
The main story of the 2024 NBA draft was arguably the Lakers’ draft of Bronny James to join forces with his dad. Yes, he was picked as the #55 draft pick, which normally wouldn’t be a major news story, but the draft contributes to the crazy legacy of LeBron and the longevity that he has possessed throughout his career. This is the first time in NBA history that a father-son duo will be teammates, and if you can’t recognize just how cool this is, then you’re just a hater at this point.
Throughout his career, LeBron has played against several father-son duos, but at different eras and points of time within the last 20 years. Now he has the chance to bridge those generations and compete on the court with his own son. That’s something special. Now, Bronny likely won’t be getting a ton of playing time, as he still needs time to develop and adjust to the speed and physicality of the league. But I’ll be excited to see how he progresses throughout his career. Not totally looking forward to the myriad of corny Instagram posts that LeBron will be sharing next season, but we’ll let it pass for now since this is truly something special.
However, as major as this story was, another key aspect of this year’s NBA draft is the amount of European talent present within the draft class. And this is a reflection of a larger trend within the NBA itself — the growing impact of international/European players in the league. This year’s MVP finalists were all non-Americans, and the MVPs from the last 5 years have all been international players. The league is becoming more global, and honestly, I’m here for it. The NBA is popular worldwide, and with a larger presence of international players, more international fans can root for players from their home countries.
Now onto this year’s draft class. In the first round, five of the first 12 players picked were from Europe (three of which were from France), and by the end of the first round, eight Europeans had been drafted.
Is this a coincidence given Wemby’s dominance in his rookie season? Or has player development gotten that much better in Europe over the last years? While there is a lack of a NCAA-equivalent university athletics program in Europe, these youth players do get the opportunity to play at a professional level much earlier on than most Americans. Many Europeans who specialize early on in their sport play professionally as high schoolers; some of these youngsters end up entering the NBA draft directly from this level, or they go on to play in the NCAA after being recruited by colleges.
I believe this early integration into professional-level sports help Europeans develop a certain level of maturity that many Americans lack. They are exposed to a high level of competition while competing against athletes that are much older and more developed than they are, which may help with the transition into the NBA. They have had the pressure of competing at a high level on their shoulders from a much earlier age, and while there are many Europeans that don’t make it to the NBA level, the ones that do have gone through excessive trials to make it to the point where they are in their career.
This is, of course, all speculation for now. There is no telling whether this influx of young European talent will actually flourish in the league or end up as non-memorable busts. But I am excited for the international side of the league to continue to grow, and in a draft class with not-so-many major names, these young Europeans have an opportunity to introduce themselves to the world and represent their home countries with pride. Now let’s just see how they perform in the Summer League and throughout the season this year — maybe this is the beginning of a total Euro takeover in the NBA.
