The Rising Star: Noa Essengues Potential Impact on the 2025 NBA Draft

In the world of basketball, there are players who stand out from the crowd, and Noa Essengue is one of them. With a fluid handle, dynamic finishing package, and highly versatile defense, he has the potential to be a force in the NBA. At just 18 years old, Essengue is already making waves with his impressive skills and potential. However, his long-term upside hinges on his ability to develop a reliable jump shot. If he can't make it click, his defense will need to reach a level that prevents coaches from keeping him off the floor.

Strengths:

• Fluid Athleticism: Essengue looks like an NBA player with enormous arms and graceful movements on the floor. Whether he's using an off-ball screen to slingshot toward the basket or sprinting in transition to ready for a lob dunk, he's a natural athlete.
• Drive Game: He's a natural with the ball in his hands, using spin moves, euro-steps, and other fluid maneuvers to get into the paint. There, he can take off-balanced, wrong-footed layups and use either hand, or get flashy with Giannis-style scoop layups to score. And if he has room to leap, he can dunk loudly. All of these skills give him major face-up scoring potential.
• Shooting Progress: Over three consecutive years, he's gone from a hackable nonshooter to a player making 24.4% of his 3s and 70.1% of his free throws. His form looks smooth, and he has good touch on layups and floaters near the basket. Maybe his upward trajectory continues in the years to come.
• Passing: Essengue has a strong feel for the game. He pings the ball around the floor with decisive passes within the flow of the offense. He shows creativity with interior wrap-arounds and over-the-head passes out of the post to shooters across the court.
• Versatile Defense: A multi-positional defender who can switch onto smaller, quicker players or hold his own against larger ones. He can also be plugged into different positions, whether he needs to chase someone off screens and close out on shooters or focus on offering help defense at the rim. He's extremely active off-ball, showing strong focus rotating at the rim or getting his long arms in the passing lanes to rack up deflections.

Concerns:

• Shooting: He has made progress but still hasn't proven he can be an effective floor spacer. Developing into a reliable shooter would unlock so many of his talents and be the key to his future.
• Strength: He needs to fill out his lean frame, which would make him even more of a threat scoring at the rim and further enhance his defensive versatility. As of now, he can get overpowered on defense or get forced to take layups shying away from contact.
• Fundamentals: He drives into traffic too often, which shows how his game still lacks polish. Unsurprising considering his youth, but an area that he needs to address in the years to come.

Overall, Noa Essengue is a player to watch in the NBA draft and beyond. With his impressive skills and potential for growth, he could become a key player for any team that drafts him. For more scouting reports and analysis, check out my NBA Draft Guide for a two-round mock draft and a big board with full scouting reports.