PARIS (France) - You can call it a new shade or a bold stroke, but the November window of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 has signaled a fresh new beginning for Les Bleus.
Not only does it mark the debut of new head coach Frederic Fauthoux, stepping in after the long tenure of Vincent Collet, but it also highlights a wave of fresh talent with five players making their senior national team debuts against Cyprus.
Front and center of the new-look Les Bleus is one Nolan Traore, the latest gem of French basketball.
The 18-year-old put up 10 points to go with 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal in 23 minutes of play as Les Bleus shook off a tougher-than-expected challenge in Nicosia — a promising start for a player who's drawing comparisons to the very best.
The best thing I could wish for him is to have a career like Tony's.
Traore's resume is impressive even when comparing it with other high-achievers at the youth levels.
In 2019, Traore enrolled at INSEP, the renowned sports academy in Paris that developed players like Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Evan Fournier. He quickly made an impact for INSEP's basketball program and for the French youth national team, leading them to three consecutive top-five finishes at FIBA Youth EuroBasket events.
In 2024, Traore made a strong impression on the world stage with strong performances at the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp and the Nike Hoop Summit, while also leading INSEP to a second-place finish at the 2024 ANGT Finals, behind a 45-point, 9-assist semi-finals performance against Barcelona.
While Traore's youth-level achievements are certainly impressive, he has hit yet another gear since making the move to the senior level, solidifying himself as one of the best guard prospects to ever come out of France.
In the middle of his 2023-24 season, Traore joined the professional ranks of Saint-Quentin in the French LNB. At just 17 years old, Traore was faced with the difficult task of quickly adapting to a squad that was in the middle of a playoff hunt and he proved to be up to the task, averaging 12.3 points and 5.8 assists.
In the offseason, Traore held offers from multiple teams in both the professional and collegiate ranks, but he decided to stay at Saint-Quentin, signing a two-year deal at the beginning of the 2024-25 season. "Basketball-wise, it's the best situation for me," Traore told ESPN's Jonathan Givony. "I liked the first experience that I had with them. Playing in the Basketball Champions League group stage will be exciting and was a big positive."
Saint-Quentin's head coach, Julien Mahe also saw Traore's addition as a net positive, emphasizing its significance for both the club and French basketball as a whole. “He is one of the young talents of French basketball and for a club like ours, it’s a mission to give them a place where they can express themselves," Mahe said in an interview with Alexandre Lacoste of BeBasket. "It shows that there is a place for young players in the French league very early. It's a good ground for promoting the competition."
You get the feeling he's already playing like he's had 10 years of experience. It's crazy at that age.
However, Mahe noted that not every young player is ready for the challenge. "They must also be hardworking, willing to listen and to be coached hard. That's what's happening with Nolan," Mahe said after Traore became the youngest player in league history to score 25 points in a game. "The most interesting thing about Nolan is that he is improving game after game. It's very positive. He's a young player but he listens, he works and he moves forward."
It’s this approach to the game that has insiders and outsiders raving about him.
French national team veteran Andrew Albicy echoes this sentiment: "He's quiet off the court, but you can sense he has confidence in himself, that he's comfortable, sometimes even a little too much," Albicy said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro. "You get the feeling he's already playing like he’s had 10 years of experience. It's crazy at that age."
That confidence translates to his game. "It's his combination of poise and ability to attack the basket," replies Nick Agar-Johnson, editor-in-chief at NBA Draft outlet No Ceilings, when asked about what makes Traore such a special prospect, and adds: "It's exceedingly rare for an 18-year-old point guard to start in Champions League games, and Traore's had some of his best performances of the season against the highest level of professional competition outside of the NBA."
Traore has capitalized on those opportunities in a big way, breaking the Basketball Champions League's record for most points in a single game by an under-21 player in the competition, with 27 in his season debut against Kolossos H Hotels.
"For his age, he's very strong, athletic, and when he starts hitting outside shots, it becomes very dangerous for everyone," said Albicy, and scouts mention his jump shot as an X-factor when it comes to his development.
"Traore's projection for the next few years depends pretty heavily on his development as a shooter," says Agar-Johnson. "He will need to shoot at some level to keep defenses honest when he doesn't have the ball in his hands."
The long-term view of Traore as an important piece of the national team seems to be very much part of the plans of the new national team boss Fauthoux.
"We're following his progress, and we need to see players for the future," said the French head coach in a press conference before November's window. "So it's normal that we bring him in for this first window to see what he can do at the international level. That's also why we brought in Andrew Albicy, our captain, to help him with his first steps."
In basketball circles, he's already drawing comparisons to some of the biggest names in the game, including Tony Parker himself.
Fauthoux addressed the buzz directly: "The best thing I could wish for him is to have a career like Tony's. They are two different people, and that's always the tricky part when comparing. There are striking similarities in the game, yes, but a different character. The future will tell if we can make a comparison."
One thing that's certain is that the future is bright for Les Bleus.
The country has seen four players in the top 10 of the NBA Draft in the past two years: two wings in Bilal Coulibaly and Zaccharie Risacher, and two big men in Alex Sarr and Victor Wembanyama who might be the future of French basketball, and Traore could be the final piece to the puzzle.
"I would assume that Traore is the longer-term starting point guard for the French national team," says Agar-Johnson. "On paper, the fit between those five is fantastic—that's a starting five with size everywhere except PG, with some serious defensive chops."
While the present is with Saint-Quentin and the French national team, an NBA future looms large for the teenager, who has set high goals. "It's like a dream. That's the goal for this year," said Traore to Le Figaro's Christophe Remise. "I want to be as high as possible in the draft. I don't know if it will be in the Top 5, I just want to play as well as I can, and I'll be in the team that wants me."
If he continues to play in the way he has been doing so far, experts envision a long future in the NBA for the French teenager. "I have Traore in the Top 5 on my board," says Agar-Johnson. "With a more consistent shot, I see Traore as a starting NBA point guard sooner rather than later, with a potential All-Star campaign somewhere in his first five years in the league."
FIBA