Noah Penda Is Playing a Big Role for Le Mans

Nolan Traore and Noa Essengue have been the dominant names for French prospects this season, but Noah Penda shouldn’t be flying under the radar much longer. The 19-year-old forward is playing a big role for Le Mans and his draft stock is improving.

Noah Penda / fiba.basketbal

Very few people are in draft mode year-round. Unless you're a diehard fan of one of the handful of Flagg Bearing teams that are tanking this season you likely have most draft chatter tuned out until after the NBA Finals.

Even so, you may have heard of two French prospects already for the 2025 NBA Draft Nolan Traore and Noa Essengue. They were highly-rated coming into the season, and both have lived up to the hype so far. Given recent draft trends, it likely won’t shock you to hear that there’s another French forward taking on a big role professionally at a young age. Noah Penda, at only 19, is a regular starter and playing nearly 28 minutes per game for Le Mans in France. 

Penda is 6-foot-8, has a 7-foot wingspan, and weighs roughly 225 pounds. He’s only 19, but already has an NBA body and that’s helped him earn a large role and a lot of playing time with Le Mans. It’s not just Penda’s size and athleticism - he’s got decent speed and leaping ability too - that have him on the floor for Le Mans. He’s averaging nearly 11 points per game on 43/42/70 shooting splits including shooting 42 percent from deep on 24 attempts. The spacing helps Le Mans offense, and Penda has proven capable of making contested spot-up attempts as well as spot-up attempts from a few steps beyond the arc as well. 

His threat when spacing the floor is drawing hard closeouts, and he’s attacking those to create for himself and others. When driving to the rim his decision-making is solid, and he can find open teammates primarily on the perimeter. This is an across-the-board trend for Penda. He passes well from stationary positions in the halfcourt too, and also in open floor transition opportunities. He’s even run some pick-and-roll and made second reads out of it this season. 

Passing is not Penda’s best skill, but it is a skill he has and a bonus one for his player archetype especially alongside his shooting. When attacking closeouts Penda looks to get to the rim too and while he’s not a bad finisher by any means he isn’t an excellent one either. He’s shooting only 50 percent on layups per Synergy Sports which, for someone with his athletic advantages, is a bit lower than you’d expect. Generally, Penda could be more assertive on his drives. He shies away from contact and could do a better job of using his body to create separation from his trailing defenders. The touch and rotation on his finishes have room for improvement too but making better use of his body and physical gifts should be the priority. 

Penda’s handle when attacking closeouts is solid. When attacking the rim directly, with open driving lanes, and a defender either already behind him or on his hip he’s got good control of the ball and sees the floor well. Concerns with Penda’s handle arrive primarily in the halfcourt when he is directly trying to break down his defender in front of him and is dribbling the ball for an extended period of time. Similar to his finishing, it’s not bad but it isn’t excellent. It’s more than tolerable for his age and position as well and could even be touted as a skill to be optimistic about blended with his decision-making and court vision. 

Finally, Penda is averaging 1.9 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. He’s very active defensively and not conserving his athleticism for only the offensive end of the floor. He also averages five rebounds per game, including 1.7 offensive rebounds per game. Add in his four made field goals off of cuts and this all indicates a solid IQ player, who is engaged in all areas of the game and rarely takes portions of it off. 

Penda has good size and athleticism, can shoot, and is an overall well-rounded basketball player. At 19 it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what he can develop into but he is easily worth a draft pick and waiting to see what skills take off over the others into his early 20’s. His exact role will define itself as he gets forward and for now, a team should simply bet on the well-rounded talent.

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