Trail Blazers News: Will Portland Draft International Prospect In 2024 Lottery?

Alex Kirschenbaum | Apr 14, 2024

Nov 3, 2023; Portland, Oregon, USA; The Portland Trail Blazers logo at center court before a game. / Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Will the Portland Trail Blazers' next great hope be an NBL stud? That could be the question facing general manager Joe Cronin.

At 21-60 thanks to their latest loss against the Houston Rockets on Friday, the Trail Blazers now have the fourth-best lottery odds ahead of this summer's draft, owning a tiebreaker over the 21-60 San Antonio Spurs (who surprisingly beat the Denver Nuggets Friday night).

So who does Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman project as the fourth-best prospect in this year's draft? 7'1" Perth Wildcats power forward/center Alexandre Sarr.

"Sarr may be the safest pick of all the perceived No. 1 overall candidates," Wasserman writes". It's difficult to picture an NBA world where he isn't regularly adding some type of value with his athleticism around the basket and defensive versatility."

"The high floor ultimately puts him in the conversation with the top prospects in a weaker draft," Wasserman allows. "The flashes of open-floor ball-handling, pull-up jumpers and spot-up threes creates No. 1 overall upside.Offensively, I'm still hesitant to buy those flashes developing into consistent occurrences against NBA bigs. It seems more realistic to picture a play-finisher who'd be better described as capable than consistent at knocking down threes and attacking closeouts.Regardless, his 7'1" size, aggression and mobility should be a lock to translate to easy buckets, rim protection and the ability to switch onto guards and wings."