Izan Almansa’s Flexibility Is Increasing His Value Now and for the Future

Spanish big Izan Almansa’s convoluted path to the 2025 NBA Draft has made him difficult to evaluate. He’s played in different environments, and different roles, making it hard to nail down his archetype.

Izan Almansa / fiba.basketbal

At 6-foot-10 and 230 pounds, many have lumped Almansa into the conventional big man category as a prospect. He’s been evaluated as such, and the assumption isn’t entirely off. In fact, 41 percent of Almansa’s field goals this season have been around the rim, and more than half of his play types have been as a roll man, posting up, or from the dunker spot per Synergy Sports. On the defensive end, Almansa has largely served as a rim protector and guarded opposing bigs, especially in the early stages of the season. 

But things have changed recently. An injury to Keanu Pinder and others for the Perth Wildcats forced a re-arranging of roles and responsibilities. Bryce Cotton’s MVP-level play has called on teammates to find ways to supplement him, instead of getting what their best at specifically designed for themselves. In this environment, with slightly more chaos, Almansa has thrived. 

On defense, head coach John Rillie has asked Almansa to guard bigs, stretch bigs, and wings somewhat interchangeably. Somewhat surprisingly, Almansa has appeared to be most comfortable when matching up with perimeter players. He moves his feet decently for his size, makes use of his length, and contests shooters well overall, closing down breathing room. 

Overall, he looks much more comfortable on the perimeter than he does banging bodies down low. Almansa is not strong for his size and is somewhat averse to direct physicality. He’s been bullied by the likes of Sam Mennenga, Samson Froling, and others this season. There’s no shame in that, but you would like to see him more broadly offer additional resistance. 

Almansa’s defensive rebounding rate is about the same this season compared to last season with the G League Ignite -- 18.5 percent vs 18.8 percent -- but he’s shown the ability to step up on the glass when key players are missing, such as Pinder. 

On offense, Almansa has learned to fit well around Cotton as well as Pinder and Ben Henshall. He is playing off the Wildcats creators and offensive weapons on the inside and the perimeter. He’s converting from the dunker spot, and showing great footwork and touch as a roll man. He’s got upside as an interior finisher.

Additionally, Almansa has shooting upside too. The sample is small, he’s 7-of-18 from three in NBL play including one end-of-quarter heave, and the form isn’t perfect. The starting point and release point are kind of low, and there’s a bit of a hitch, but the rotation is solid and Almansa and his team look confident when he lets it fly. Primarily, his three-point shot has been something he’s tapped into when teams decide to leave him open as they load up on Cotton and Pinder, but he’s making those teams pay. An uptick in volume would be nice, but being surrounded by shooters like Cotton, Henshall, and Dylan Windler makes that difficult. 

What’s been most impressive about Almansa this season and should give NBA teams a glass half-full view of his potential has been his ability to vacillate between roles and responsibilities on both ends of the floor, and fit around his team's star talent. He is actively doing and improving at things that help his team win.

His NBA future is probably as an ancillary bench big that provides perimeter defense and some interior/weak-side help. He can take center minutes when needed and also space the floor. The three-point shot needs to stay the same for that and he has to get somewhat tougher, but those two things are very achievable. Almansa is flexible, and in the modern NBA, that is valuable.

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