Nolan Traore 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Nolan Traore 2025 NBA Draft Profile

We are just over one week away from the 2025 NBA Draft! Today, we will be previewing France’s Nolan Traore, one of the best passers in this year’s class! Let’s not waste any more time and jump right into it!

Height (no shoes): 6’3 (6’8 wingspan)

Weight: 175 pounds

Draft Age: 19.1

Position: Guard

Traore began his professional career in INSEP in 2021, one of the top academies in France. He spent three seasons there before joining Saint-Quentin in the LNB Pro-A, the top professional league in France, ahead of last season. He averaged 12.2 points and 4.7 assists per game, shooting 41.0 percent from the floor with a 51.2 true-shooting percentage. Let’s dive into his profile!

Strengths:

I’m not going to sit here and lie to you about watching every single Saint-Quentin game. Most of the international prospects, I get to last, though I was able to watch a handful of Saint-Quentin games in addition to his FIBA U18 tape from last summer with France.

What immediately sticks out is Traore’s ability to pass and run an offense. He’s as close to a floor general that you can find outside of Dylan Harper and Jeremiah Fears; by my account, Traore’s the best passer in this class.

He’s elite at manipulating defenses with his eyes, especially factoring in doing it as his age. He uses his eyes exceptionally well to fool tag defenders on the weakside in the pick-and-roll, as well as locating shooters who are open by virtue of defenders over-helping multiple passes away. Whether a defender is hedging, blitzing or in drop, Traore’s incredibly calm and quickly processes his keys before making a decision.

Traore doesn’t get rattled; he has so much poise. Remember, he’s going up pro defenders and is tasked with making pro reads. His burden is already greater than the majority of lead guards in this class.

He’s a solid athlete who can decelerate in space and changes pace frequently. Speaking of pace, Traore is fairly quick for his size. He’ll blow by slower-footed guards more often than not and can play with pace in transition. He always keeps his head up, but can accelerate in space with good-not-great touch around the rim. Traore’s a below-the-rim athlete, but he was crafty inside of ~6-7 feet.

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Weaknesses:

He’s a small guard. In the limited amount of tape I was able to watch of Saint-Quentin (can we make those games more accessible, please?), I didn’t think he’d be 6-foot-3 barefoot for a single second–and a part of me still doesn’t. At best, he looked 6-foot-2 with shoes on. Plus, his skinny frame worries me. While he has a 6-foot-3 frame with a 6-foot-8 wingspan, he’s 175 pounds. There were genuine concerns with him at the point-of-attack and trying to fight through screens. He wasn’t overly physical nor was he strong enough to consistently snake around smaller defenders.

He showed he was capable of finishing over bigger defenders with floaters/runners, but I have genuine concerns about how he will be able to find his shot at the next level. He’s crafty around the rim, but Traore could have difficulty finishing through contact without a ton of upper body strength.

Furthermore, while I don’t have too many concerns about his form, but he was an objectively poor 3-point shooter. He shot just 31.4 percent from 3-point range (4.0 3PA, 38.0 3PAr) last year and 29.5 percent from deep over his last three seasons. He doesn’t generate much lift and has a moderately fast release.

It takes a long time for small guards to adjust at the NBA level–that same will be the case for Traore. He’s quick enough to blow by slower-footed bigs and wings, but he’s going to get pushed off his spot and doesn’t generate enough explosiveness to consistently get his shot off.

Defenders will duck under screens and try to make him pay over the top more often than not. He’s going to have to develop long-range consistency and a reliable in-between game with change of pace if he can get to his spots. It’s going to be difficult to get consistent playing time if he’s both a 1.) bad defender and 2.) poor shooter, if he’s small.

Projection: Top-25 Pick

I have a first-round grade on Traore. I can’t justify taking him in the top-15 because of his size and efficiency. But if you’re looking for a pure point guard, there’s nobody in this class as good as Traore outside of Dylan Harper and Jeremiah Fears, in my view. If he can find his shooting touch and get stronger, he has legit upside. Though his skinny frame suggests he has a fairly low floor, as of right now. He’ll need to ender a situation that prioritizes his development and doesn’t rush the process.

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