2025 NBA Draft scouting report: Nolan Traoré, G, Saint-Quentin
Summary: Traoré oozes upside with his size, blazing speed, and shiftiness off the bounce. But he’s an inefficient scorer all over the floor who needs to improve his erratic decision-making to prove he’s worth the big swing.
Comparisons: Dejounte Murray, Scoot Henderson
Strengths
Speed: He’s the fastest player in this draft class with acceleration like a Bugatti. He’s able to go coast-to-coast with a flash, and with NBA spacing he could thrive getting downhill in the pick-and-roll to draw defenses and activate his playmaking.
Shot creation: Traoré isn’t just a speed demon. He keeps the ball on a string with crossovers, hesitations, and improvisation. If he’s able to develop a knockdown jumper, he could be tough to stop because of his ways to create separation. For now, he’s at his best when he’s attacking the basket to score acrobatically.
Playmaking: He makes some beautiful passes, driving into the paint then casually flipping a bullseye to the corner, or splitting a pick-and-roll, drawing a help defender, and then kicking it out to a shooter on the wing. He clearly knows how to use his speed to manipulate defenders. And if he can cut down on some of his careless turnovers, there’s some serious playmaking potential within.
Shooting upside: He’s making 75.6% of his free throws in his professional career overseas. Even though it hasn’t translated to consistent success in other areas on the floor, it’s at least a sign that there’s something there.
Concerns
Decision-making: He gets blinders on when he drives to the rim and ends up forcing away too many tough shot attempts.
Shooting consistency: He goes through stretches where he gets hot, then others where he barely skims the rim. His mechanics don’t seem to be an issue. But per Synergy, he's making only 30.6% of catch-and-shoot 3s, 22.6% of dribble-jumper 3s, and 28.6% of dribble-jumper 2s. He also takes a ton of floaters and makes only 33.3% of those.
Defense: He lacks focus, intensity, awareness, strength. Basically anything that a coach would look for. He has a lot of learning to do to take advantage of his athletic gifts.
