NBA – France’s Maxime Raynaud on his way to a top-team? “There’s no way they’d pass on him”

Par Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Journaliste sportif

Once again, several young French talents are expected to join the NBA via the Draft this summer. Among them is Maxime Raynaud, whose name has just been mentioned as a possible reinforcement for one of the league’s legendary franchises.

For several years now, the NBA Draft has been taking on an increasingly French accent. French prospects have been flooding into the North American league, some with significant status. Take Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, selected as 1st and 2nd picks respectively last year.

In the absence of a Hexagone representative becoming the first pick this year, several should be picked up in the first round. These include Joan Beringer, Noa Essengue, Noah Penda and Nolan Traoré, as well as the most American of them all, Maxime Raynaud. After four NCAA seasons at Stanford, the latter seems ready to take the plunge and join the big leagues.

Maxime Raynaud set to join a contender?

Long rumored to be a future second-round draft pick, Raynaud’s stock soared at the recent Combine. His performances impressed the experts and no doubt caught the eye of several NBA scouts. This could be the case with the Celtics, who should not pass up the opportunity to get their hands on him, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints :

Brett Siegel: While not the best athlete in this draft, Raynaud can be a decent rim protector and is capable of immediately making a team’s second unit better offensively. Should he still be available with the 28th pick, it seems impossible to imagine the Boston Celtics passing on a player with Raynaud’s skills.

An intelligent player with the ability to pick apart opposing defenses, Raynaud would a priori fit in perfectly with the Celtics’ game plan. Even more so when you consider that the Celtics do not seem to have the most abundant supply of players in their racket. What’s more, the Celtics are likely to make one major departure during the off-season, namely that of Al Horford. At least, that’s what ESPN’s Tim Bontemps recently suggested:

Tim Bontemps: Al Horford will be a free agent this summer. At this point, I don’t think it would really make sense for him to stay in Boston. Maybe that’s what he’ll do, but given the Celtics’ situation, I think there’s more chance of him leaving now. It’s also worth noting that he’s a long-time friend of Karl-Anthony Towns, and has been playing with him for years with the Dominican Republic.