NBA Exec Calls Noa Essengue Draft's 'Wild Card', Makes Scottie Pippen Comparison
Multiple NBA executives compared prospective 2025 draft pick Noa Essengue to Scottie Pippen when recently speaking to The Athletic's David Aldridge.
One Western Conference executive told Aldridge he considers Essengue to be "the wild card of the draft."
"Long wingspan, high motor. Needs to develop his body," the West executive told Aldridge. "Kid has some (Pippen) in him. He’s my wild card in this draft. Can go anywhere from (No.) 5 to 15, I think. Hard worker. Will develop an offensive game eventually because of how dedicated he is."
Another executive, this one from the Eastern Conference, told Aldridge about Essengue:
"He’s coming on real strong. They’re going to play deep into the playoffs, and he has a really, really good role. He’s shooting the ball better. The getting to the rim and stuff like that, he’s been good at that. He has some pretty freakish dimensions. He has a bunch of kids that he grew up playing with, and they’re all having success. Arguably, he’s more talented than them. He’s more talented than (Zaccharie) Risacher. If you had those guys in a gym together, Noa’s more talented. He does things and you’re like, damn, he’s like Scottie Pippen. It’ll be a team like Washington that’s patient and can wait, but in a year or two, people are gonna be like, “He went, what? Nine? Ten?”
He actually has a decent feel. He can attack a closeout and get to the rim, and he can make an open shot. You can hide him as your fifth-best player in a starting lineup. He can guard his yard, and at the other end, you can’t not guard him. He’ll cut and he’ll put it on your head. And if you don’t guard him, he can make a catch-and-shoot shot. He’s kind of safe in the way that he’s not gonna bust. His worst-case scenario, he’s a long 3-and-D guy that has a good feel to pass the ball and cut. The upside is, when the ball skills start to come and the defense starts to come … once he puts on weight, he’ll be able to guard bigs. … Low key, he was talking s— (at Ratiopharm). His buddy (guard Ben Saraf) was struggling. He was, like, let me help you out with this. These kids started coming at him, and he was like, “Nah, you can’t get your shot off against me.” He’s long, he has quick feet. If his mentality is right, he comes over to the NBA and looks around and starts to measure himself and goes, “I’m better than a lot of these MFs.” If he has that mentality, be careful with him."
Essengue, who turned 18 in December, is the second-youngest player in the draft to projected top pick Cooper Flagg.
He also measured in at one of the draft combine's largest prospects at 6-foot-10 barefoot, with a 7-foot, 3/4-inch wingspan and 9-foot, 1 3/4-inch standing reach, per Draft Express' Jon Chepkevich.
Jonathan Wasserman predicted in his latest mock draft for Bleacher Report that age wouldn't stop Essengue from going to the Brooklyn Nets with the No. 8 pick.
Wasserman wrote that Essengue's role in his German BBL team's run to the league finals has raised the possibility that "a rebuilding team that can afford to be patient could see a strong upside bet in Essengue if his growth continues at its current rate."
Essengue's playoff run may stop him from working out for NBA teams in person, but his status as a projected first-round pick was confirmed when he was invited to the green room for the draft, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony. The NBA decides who to invite by asking teams to vote on who they believe are top-25 players in the draft, per Givony.
The draft is set to begin in Brooklyn next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
