Studying Abroad 2025

My yearly roundup of international draft prospects looks at the class from a statistical point of view using my DMX draft model. For background on the model and the xVORP metric, I wrote this explainer article.

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Noa Essengue
HT: 6’8″
POS: SF/PF
xVORP: .644

French forward Noa Essengue has emerged as the top international prospect both by consensus and the DMX model. One of the youngest players in the draft, Essengue has been efficient in the German BBL and Eurocup (61% TS) with more assists than turnovers and solid rebounding and defensive playmaking. He is not a good outside shooter as of now, but he could eventually carve out a role somewhere in the realm of Nuggets Jerami Grant or Nuggets Aaron Gordon. Some have been gassing up Essengue as a top five prospect and, while I can’t get there, he is 17th overall in the DMX projections so the lottery is certainly in play.

Hansen Yang
HT: 7’1″
POS: C
xVORP: .508

Hansen Yang has been dismissed by mock drafters and analysts for too long, but it seems the tide is finally beginning to turn. Yang is one of the most productive players in the draft and notably one of the best passing 7-foot prospects ever to exist, with an average of 4 assists per 40 minutes over the last two seasons. The thicc, passing 7-footer prototype has given us greats such as Nikola Jokic and Marc Gasol plus a number of admirable centerpieces like Andrew Bogut, Luc Longley, Joel Pryzbilla, and Roy Hibbert. The caveat with Hansen Yang is that the Chinese Basketball League is very bad and the “Zhou Xi Experience” may still be weighing on the minds of NBA scouts and front offices. However, a strong showing at the NBA combine should alleviate some of those concerns and I believe he belongs in late first/early second round tier of big men.

Bogoljub Markovic
HT: 6’11”
POS: PF
xVORP: .442

Serbian stretch big Bogoljub Markovic was this year’s biggest Euro breakout. Following an age 18 season in which he made a 53-minute cameo in the Adriatic League for prospect farm Mega Leks, Markovic assumed a starring role this season putting up 13.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game along with strong shooting percentages from 2PT/3PT/FT. Coming in at 23rd in the draft model rankings, I think there is a solid case for Markovic as a late first rounder.

Noah Penda
HT: 6’8″
POS: SF/PF
xVORP: .427

After Noah Penda’s stellar 2024 season in the French second division went largely unnoticed, Pendamonium swept the globe in 2025 when he was able to put his skills on display in France’s top league. Penda is regarded in some circles as the draft’s most versatile defender and that checks out as his intersection of steals and blocks puts him alongside other defensive standouts like Collin Murray-Boyles, Miles Byrd, Cam Matthews, and Chris Manon. He is also an impressive passer with a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.75. Penda’s shooting is a question mark (30% 3PT, 67% FT), but there is enough to like there at 20 years old to take in the first round.

Ben Saraf
HT: 6’5″
POS: PG/SG
xVORP: 315

Nolan Traore
HT: 6’4″
POS: PG
xVORP: .267

This year’s international prospect dichotomy is Ben Saraf vs. Nolan Traore; lowkey similar prospects whose projections have been slowly converging since the early part of the season. The best thing you could say about either is that they were very high usage players at a young age against legitimate competition, which is not nothing. They also have good size for lead guards. Unfortunately Saraf and Traore also share the same warts, namely turnovers and ineffciency. Both are around 30% 3-point shooters and, while Traore shoots a more promising volume of threes, he is still the less efficient of the two overall. Some recent prospects with similar pros and cons include mega busts Emmanuel Mudiay, Scoot Henderson, and Killian Hayes. I would stay away from either until the back end of round one.

Joan Beringer
HT: 6’11”
POS: C
xVORP: .163

It seems that the NBA has learned nothing from a 2024 draft that saw French prospects get egregiously overdrafted, as evidenced by the lottery hype surrounding Joan Beringer. Beringer is a prospect to some degree but the lottery is a major stretch for a guy who projects as the seventh best player from an international class that has maybe one lottery pick in it. Granted he is known as a defensive specialist, Beringer is painfully limited on offense by NBA prospect standards with 11.3 points and 1 assist per 40 minutes, 56% foul shooting, and zero 3-pointers. He probably doesn’t even belong in first round conversations, let alone the lottery.

Neoklis Avdalas
HT: 6’8″
POS: SG/SF
xVORP: .139

On the other hand we have Neo Avdalas, perhaps the most underrated international prospect to enter the 2025 draft. Avdalas put up solid all-around stats in the top Greek league and the Basketball Champions League, displaying a versatile skill set as a 6’8″ 19-year-old. He also earns some extra respect from me for being one of the few 2006-born European players who was not awful shooting threes (36% on 6.3 attempts per 40 minutes), a disturbing new trend. I blame AAU.

Hugo Gonzalez
HT: 6’6″
POS: SF
xVORP: .092

Hugo Gonzalez entered the year as the most hyped international prospect and is still a projected first rounder after an underwhelming season with Real Madrid. Hugo is arguably the victim of sporadic playing time, but my model mostly uses per minute stats and gives a nice boost for young players competing at the highest levels of European basketball. It might come down to your assessment of Gonzalez as a youth player and since I don’t have one I lean towards him being a second rounder.

Alex Toohey
HT: 6’7″
POS: SF
xVORP: .072

Aussie wing Alex Toohey has a solid statistical profile for a forward except that he shot 30% from three this year making less than one per game. His 3-point shooting and foul shooting improved year-over-year, but it is still kind of a dealbreaker. Toohey should probably be a late second round draft-and-stash pick.

Didn’t play enough:
Rocco Zikarsky, Michael Ruzic, Bassala Bagayoko

Best of the rest (draft-and-stash options):
Mohammad Amini, Mouhamed Faye, Izan Almansa, Malique Lewis, Ben Henshall