Historic NBA draft for France

MANILA, Philippines — The NBA may have to rethink the timing of its annual draft. Not the month, but a tweak to the hour the picks start coming off the board.

Paris is six hours ahead of New York, so French basketball fans eager to see history had to stay up into the wee hours of Thursday morning to see France join the United States as the only countries with three players drafted in the top 10 picks of an NBA draft.

And as the first round was a coming to an end, a total of four Frenchmen had been drafted: Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Tidjane Salaun and Pacome Dadiet.

The question going into Wednesday night’s draft was whether Risacher or Sarr would hear their name called as the No. 1 pick overall by Commissioner Adam Silver, and become the second straight Frenchman to be take first overall on the heels of last season’s eventual Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyana.

Atlanta made Risacher that player.

Washington took 7-footer Sarr at No. 2, making a second straight draft the Wizards selected a player from France. Then the NBA draft really took on a decidedly French flavor with Charlotte helping France make history by selecting Salaun at No. 6 overall.