Knicks Draft Pacome Dadiet 25th Overall
The New York Knicks have found a French import to accompany the Statue of Liberty at the 2024 NBA Draft.
With the 25th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, the Knicks chose French-born Pacome Dadiet, an 18-year-old who played for Ratiopharm Ulm of Basketball Bundesliga. Dadiet is the fourth French-born player to be chosen during the opening round on Wednesday night, following two top picks Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta) and Alex Sarr (Washington) as well as No. 6 choice Tidjane Salun (Charlotte).
The pick used to take Dadiet was acquired from the Dallas Mavericks in a 2019 trade headlined by Kristaps Porzingis.
Dadiet, 18, repped France at several FIBA amateur events after going pro at 16 with Paris Basketball. In his most recent season with Ratiopharm Ulm, Dadiet averaged 6.8 points (on over 52 percent shooting) and 2.6 rebounds in just over 15 minutes a game.
In a pre-draft self-assessment with Eric Guilleminault of NBADraft.net, Dadiet modeled his game after several certain American stars.
"I watch Paul George. I watch DeMar DeRozan for his mid-range game mostly just, you know, how he gets to his shot and stuff," Dadiet said. "I feel like he’s one of the best in this area, so I try to watch him as much as possible. I watched (Tracy McGrady), Brandon Ingram, just because, you know, he’s tall, so he’s a guard."
If and when he reaches New York, Dadiet will look to defy the Knicks' cursed history with French-born prospects: Frederic Weis, infamously chosen one pick before St. John's star Ron Artest (now known as Metta Standiford-Artest) in 1999, never played a game with the team while Frank Ntilikina never lived up to his top 10 billing from 2017. The Knicks also took Osumane Dieng with the 11th pick in 2022 but immediately traded him to Oklahoma City in an attempt to build an offseason budget that eventually landed Jalen Brunson.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks