2025 International Prospects

The guys who run this page actually go to events for scouting, I am sure they know more than I do. And next year’s draft is certainly far off. But I can’t help but feel like they’re overlooking a few guys who strike me as fairly certain (though maybe I’m just being an optimist).
They DO have Mihail Ruzic, who I did forget about, and they have him as a lottery pick at the moment.
I can see a world where Zikarsky isn’t a 2025 prospect, but seeing as how he was getting a bit of playing time in the NBL even this year, I think he probably will be. I can’t pretend to know how valuable he’ll be, I can see him not being a lottery pick, but he’s GOTTA be a draft prospect.
Bassala Bagayoko not being on there stuns me. Maybe they’re just taking a wait-and-see approach to how he recovers from an injury that could threaten his career? I’m not sure what else to say, though. I think I’ve already made that rant enough times lol. His trajectory before the injury speaks for itself. I think if he didn’t get injured, it’s very possible that he’d be threatening Cooper Flagg for top overall pick- if not even the other way around.
David Mirkovic seems like a pretty clear case to me, too. I have to think the ABA is worth it’s salt as a league with commendable prospects, as Mega MIS seems to have at least one drafted player every year now. His path to playing time is clear, because he was already getting quite a bit last year. Maybe NBA Draft is just unimpressed with his performance/potential? I think what he’s already done is plenty encouraging though.

I can understand if they’re more skeptical that Kasparas Jakucionis and Ismaila Diagne will get reliable playing time in the ACB. They’re on deep Euroleague teams and it seems like it’s hard for even top prospects to break into the rotation. I think Diagne is highly enough regarded that it might not even matter, and Real Madrid is sporadically giving him extended opportunities already for whatever that’s worth. If Eli John N’Diaye stays in this draft or opts to play elsewhere for more minutes, I think that opens the door for Diagne, but I do suppose that’s a pretty big “if”.
I didn’t initially think of Kasparas Jakucionis as a 2025 prospect, let alone a surefire guy. So I could definitely be overshooting the mark on him in the moment because of his recent ANGT performances, but he looks pretty ridiculously talented and I think he has great size for the PG position. At least at the moment my impression is that the ONLY thing in question for his prospect status is his role on the senior team. He didn’t look bad in his brief “cup of coffee” opportunities for them at the beginning of the season either, if that does happen to factor into their plans.

Jacky Cui was able to declare this year, right? Is Hansen Yang not allowed?
I can see Ruben Prey and Alexandros Samodurov not getting enough senior team opportunities or not showing enough development, but I have to think they are prominent enough as prospects to think they’re candidates until they show that they aren’t. Although Prey getting leapfrogged in his team’s depth chart to Mihail Ruzic himself is interesting lol. I can definitely see why they might not be on the mock as of yet.

But Mohammad Amini is also, to me, an oversight. Again, maybe NBA Draft knows something about AS Monaco’s future plans that I don’t. But I think it’s ever more likely that Amini will be on their senior team next year, and I think that would just about ensure his status as a 2025 draft prospect (especially because his roster spot would be well-earned, in my opinion). I guess it isn’t a TOTAL guarantee, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to matter for Matthew Strazel, but I mean… Amini’s pretty darn impressive, the NBA ought to like his 2-through-4, 2-way skillset a bit more than an undersized and inefficient point guard with some intangibles.

The box score I see says that Real Madrid was the one that won by a point (in an OT thriller no less)? Which makes sense, their team is absolutely stacked.
(here’s the box score I saw for that game)
https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/ngt/game-center/2023-24-berlin-finals/u18-real-madrid-u18-pfbb-insep-paris/JTF423/13/#boxscore

Gonzalez/Demin/Diagne all on the same youth team is ridiculous. I’m pretty sure Declan Duru is a notable prospect too, not eligible until 2026. And Mitar Bosnjakovic, I’ve seen him occasionally mocked or at least discussed- I’m not sure I’m quite sold on him yet, certainly not as a clear 2025 draft prospect, but I think it’s definitely possible for him too.

Paris’ team is nuts too. I knew Nolan Traore was a prospect but I didn’t know how good he was, I hadn’t really kept many tabs on him because I don’t generally follow the French NM leagues, just Pro A/ProB and the U21 stuff every now and again.
But the 45 he dropped on Barca yesterday was stunning, easily the game of the tournament. Throughout all of the Berlin Final’s games, I have to think he’s the tournament MVP even if Paris did lose that final.
Hugo Moukouri of Paris seriously impressed me too, and he’s not even draft eligible until… 2027?!? Sheesh.

I do feel fairly certain that Hugo Gonzalez will be getting somewhat regular minutes next year.
Mirkovic was getting fairly regular minutes in the ABA already.

I think Bagayoko opted out of his Fuenlabrada contract- and they aren’t even in the ACB anymore anyways. He will need to find a team and I can’t find any updates on his health, so I suppose I can see why he isn’t on any mocks yet. Still, breaking Ricky Rubio and Luka records in the ACB is absurd.

I think it is very much to the point that some of these guys might be good enough to help these teams win games at the highest level– though that might be optimistic. And I certainly did think quite a few of those guys you mentioned would have far bigger impacts in their transfers to college last year, too. It does look like a few of those guys did since transfer to college next year so it will certainly be interesting to see what shakes out!

The more I think about it, the more your comment to just wait and see seems correct.
I do think Egor Demin is fairly likely to be a starter for BYU and perhaps still contend to be a lottery pick, but I think it’s hard to see Diagne getting too many minutes in Gonzaga’s rotation this year. I do think Ajayi and Ike wind up being the starting 4 and 5 for them, and even if they go a different direction, I think Braden Huff and Ben Gregg in addition to the guys you already mentioned are probably ahead in line for rotation minutes too.

I think Jakucionis could certainly be in Illinois’ rotation, but my guess is that he is coming off the bench behind Kylan Boswell and Ty Rodgers and will be competing with Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn for bench minutes. I don’t think that makes him a very likely one-and-done prospect after all, even if he is good- and he might still a year or two to develop his jump shot anyways. But I do think he’s an eventual NBA prospect either way, I suppose we’ll see!!

It IS still way too early and pretty silly but what I came up with in my latest mock up does happen to include less prospects playing internationally than I mocked the 2024 draft to include.
That being said, I am still very impressed by the potential 2025 international prospects, even if only at this stage. I have the impression that they will have more productive careers than this year’s class, even though I don’t exactly think this year is poor for international prospects by any stretch either.

I definitely am eager for any updates to Bagayoko’s situation to be released. But I’m starting to think that the top 7 of next year’s draft could possibly wind up looking something like:
1. Cooper Flagg
2. Airious Bailey
3. Mihail Ruzic
4. Hugo Gonzalez
5. Bassala Bagayoko
6. VJ Edgecombe
7. Nolan Traore