Projected 2025 NBA lottery pick Nolan Traore staying in France - ESPN

One of the top players in the NBA's 2025 draft class, French guard Nolan Traore, has spurned offers from around the world to remain in his home country, he told ESPN on Saturday.

Traore, a 6-foot-5, 17-year-old playmaker who matriculated from famed Parisian sports academy INSEP, will sign a two-year contract with Saint-Quentin in the French first division.

«Basketball-wise, it's the best situation for me,» Traore said. «I can play with a coach that I know, that gave me the confidence to play in the playoffs. I liked the first experience that I had with them. Playing in the FIBA Champions League [BCL] group stage next season will be exciting and was a big positive.»

Traore was being recruited by a host of powerhouse college basketball programs — including Duke, Arkansas, Gonzaga and Alabama — as well as the Australian NBL and EuroLeague and EuroCup teams in France and abroad. He said the comfort of being close to home, along with his preexisting relationship with Saint-Quentin, was important for him.

«It was cool to have all these programs interested in me,» Traore said. «I don't take that for granted. It was a reward for all the work I've put in. I was happy to have all these options, but the possibility of staying close to my family was also important. They can visit me, and I can go home easily.»

Traore was already a projected lottery pick in ESPN's first 2025 mock draft published in February, but he will be ranked in the top five in the next update after an explosive spring that featured standout showings in venues around the globe.

He showed his talent against prospects in his age group at the NBA's Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Indianapolis in January, the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon, in April,