Welcome back to another year of NBA Draft coverage on the Phoenix Suns.
Our 29 for 29 series will roll through 29 different prospects we think you should know about ahead of the draft that sits less than two weeks away. The general idea here is to cover the entire canvas for who Phoenix could select at No. 29, as well as a few players who could come up later with its second-round pick at No. 52.
There is also a solid chance the Suns acquire more picks in a Kevin Durant trade, and these prospects could apply to those selections too.
The five-part series began with five names who would be a “best player available” type of selection and then broke down another five who have some hidden upside that could be untapped. Then, we took a crack at five more who fit the profile of what this new Suns regime wants.
Part four is here, bringing the international flavor! This is a deep group of prospects overseas, given more of an opportunity to be selected in the 20s and 30s thanks to the dozen-plus borderline first-rounders who went back to college for NIL reasons.
In a slight tweak of the format, we will take the usual thorough peek at prospects, but only two. The other four will come with an explainer, and this will be the same deal for our conclusion in this series, which will cover eight noteworthy names from the collegiate ranks.
The two international players to spotlight are point guard prospects, where the Suns could grab a floor general with very good potential and take the long-term development route that could pay off in a few years.
For help on knowing where guys might or should go, refer to ESPN’s big board ranking for each prospect, as they are the most “intel-based” and generally have a good idea on the range to know.
International prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft who might fit the Suns’ needs
Nolan Traore, PG, Saint-Quentin (France), 19 years old
Measurables: 6-foot-3, 175 pounds, 6-foot-8 wingspan Stats: 12.2 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 4.7 APG, 0 BPG, 0.7 SPG, 2.5 TPG, 41 FG% (10.5 FGA/G), 31.4 3P% (4 3PA/G), 71.1 FT% (3.4 FTA/G) Big board rankings: ESPN: 25, The Athletic: 22, The Ringer: 23, Yahoo!: 19
For the national experts that cover this stuff year-round, Traore has been on one of the biggest journeys. He came into the season seen as the best international prospect and someone who had a chance to go in the top-five, but an uneven year in France followed by other prospects emerging could see him not even be one of the first three selections from overseas.
Given the need for additional context on this and being someone who did not watch this whole up-and-down trip, here’s the summary from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony:
Traore played some of his best basketball of the season over the past two months, hitting 43% of his 3s in the final 10 games, showcasing his impressive ball-handling, playmaking and creativity. Still, this was a decidedly uneven year for the just-turned 19-year-old, struggling with turnovers, finishing around the basket and on defense. He converted 32% of his overall 3-pointers through 44 games in all competitions.
A brief dip into the tape reveals a lot of what Givony is getting at, that Traore is still very much a point guard who is looking for all of his skills to blend together. The playmaking armed by that handle comes with a certain level of confidence that he isn’t utilizing properly just yet.
Finding sweet spots of the defense and then finishing the sequence from there are not consistent elements of his floor general game right now, an uncommon thing to say about a point guard prospect and also something fair to say with him given the obvious ability he has.
Meaning, he clearly has all the tools to dominate, but he’s not even fully benefitting from the tools now. That’s when his own offense, like the finishing, should get better. And the jumper could explode from there.
Watch when it all comes together and, again, you’re going to believe there’s no world this dude should slip out of the top-10 in.
Nolan Traore #SaintQuentin
Hit The Music. pic.twitter.com/OF093xepLi
— Tyler Rucker (@tyler_rucker) June 4, 2025
The jumper is the serious hurdle. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie in his draft guide hinges Traore’s success on that, which could ultimately cap Traore’s ceiling. But Vecenie notes that a reliable shot would allow Traore to be a well-rounded lead guard.
He’s great value for anyone outside of the top-20 that is in a position to take a risk, and that’s the problem. Teams in that position very much value the cheap contracts those selections become and the luxury they can provide down the line.
It’s tough to predict where he goes, but he will surely blow at least one front office away in a workout, showing that top-five potential. His ceiling is so high that it is worth Phoenix at least considering him.
Ben Saraf, PG, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany), 19 years old
Measurables: 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, unknown wingspan Stats: 12.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 4.3 APG, 0.3 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 2.7 TPG, 45.3 FG% (10.1 FGA/G), 29.4 3P% (2.3 3PA/G), 76.4 FT% (3.3 FTA/G) Big board rankings: ESPN: 30, The Athletic: 10, The Ringer: 26, Yahoo!: 27
The Ringer’s writeup on Saraf bring attention to a popular term used amongst draft experts the last handful of years — “advantage creation.”
We have seen tons of skilled playmakers across all positions get stymied by an inability to get downhill against NBA defenses and defenders. Whether it’s strictly a lack of agility, strength or something more skill-based such as the handle, it’s a common theme when evaluating the draft.
Saraf is that prospect in this 2025 turn.
The lefty loves a jump pass. Once he knows someone is open, he’s going in the air, and from there will find said teammate.
I could watch Ben Saraf pass the ball all day, I swear. All of this is from yesterday’s game pic.twitter.com/f1u7tC9ZgE
— Itamar (@Itamar_17_10) June 8, 2025
Now, you know why he’s jumping? Because a majority of the passes he makes are before he gets in the paint or just as he arrives in there. It’s also a roadblock that has allowed for him to develop more naturally than a point guard who lives around the basket, so he’s going to have a very good understanding of where defenses shift and will still make these passes as a rookie.
The craft, as you would predict, extends to floaters and touch shots.
I know there’s a certain Miami Heat comp Saraf will be getting if linked to the Heat
The lefty, the spins, the craftiness, the mid range
I know we talk so often about cutting mid ranges out in Miami, but this guy has a real skill down there
Pull-ups, floaters, etc
Really good pic.twitter.com/swNY76XDuH
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) June 10, 2025
Again, that is because he’s not at the rim. You see a left-handed lead guard like this and you want to bring up Goran Dragic, but The Dragon owned a duplex in every arena’s restricted area.
Saraf is actually a good defender at his current level playing in Germany. The issue is if the athleticism issues catch up to such a degree where he’s picked on. And he is not a good enough offensive player to lean on a one-way resume because it’s a “we’ll see!” on his jumper.
Vecenie has this as a similar bottom to Traore, where Saraf’s potential is too high to grade out of the first round, even though the shot is such a clear road block.
You can sense the skepticism here but that is just again not being a fan of this type of profile. Like Traore, the Suns could take the risk, but that’s asking for a lot with how much they need this pick to work out.
Would the Suns take a chance on an international big or wing?
And at this point we will take an intermission with a hard left to conclude this group, because we’ve got some international dudes bunched up in a familiar position.
An archetype we see often in the draft is a toolsy big or large athletic wing who rides flashes of that athleticism and untapped skill potential playing overseas (often in a limited role) to a selection outside the top-20.
These picks have a horrible track record.
In the last five drafts alone, there has been Pacome Dadiet (25th, 2025), Bobi Klintman (37th, ’25), James Nnaji (31st, ’24), Tristan Vukcevic (42nd, ’24), Nikola Jovic (27th, ’23), Khalifa Diop (39th, ’23), Usman Garuba (23rd, ’21), Leandro Bolmaro (23rd, ’20) and Marko Simonovic (44th, ’20).
Jovic has a case as a rotation player right now while the rest are either big misses or a TBD still.
The worst part is, when these picks do hit, it’s often not for the team that picked them. Isaiah Hartenstein (43rd, ’17) and Ivica Zubac (32nd, ’16) were the two most recent examples and they broke out much later in their careers.
The case for the last prospect meeting this profile to work out for the team that drafted them is Cedi Osman with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who was not an absolute boon for Cleveland but a usable rotation player over a handful of years, and that was in 2015. If we omit Osman, then goodness gracious it’s the man himself Nikola Jokic (41st, ’14) as the last success story.
This year, Real Madrid’s Hugo Gonzalez, Mega Basket’s Bogoljub Markovic, Le Mans’ Noah Penda and Qingdao’s Hansen Yang all fit the bill and are ranked on big boards from the 20s to 40s.
With that in mind, we’ll take an expedient route with a few of those names.
For Gonzalez, not everyone can be Luka Doncic at Real Madrid. At the age of 18, the 6-foot-6 wing played a small role in league play and was even less featured for EuroLeague competition. It turns the prospect evaluation into much more of a haze, bordering on the days of kids coming straight out of high school.
There’s a combination of good side and skill on the wing to create intrigue, along with a motor that will appeal to the Suns. Watching him handle the ball at the EuroBasket U18 level last summer inspired the thought of if he can be a playmaking wing of sorts and he plays hard enough to fill in gaps elsewhere. It’s the usual type of profile we previously hit on.
Markovic, a big with some unique traits, is one of those international players that will be an [expletive]-stirrer. He’s got this way about him on the court that is blurring the lines between arrogance and someone who just enjoys getting the better of another. Lots of different facial expressions in his bag. He will cause a fight by his third NBA practice, I’m sure of it.
There’s a lot of limbs with his lanky 6-foot-11 frame he uses for some nice takes to the basket and has credible 3-point range on his jumper. Markovic, though, really lacks any explosiveness with his movement. So even though the aforementioned basketball personality comes with physicality that he will use despite the lack of strength, there’s no obvious position for him to play on defense. He’d be my best bet out of these six to be of interest to Phoenix given the toughness and shooting.
Penda is reminiscent of Klintman from last year in that he is bigger, faster and stronger than the majority of his competition overseas. That mostly comes into play on the defensive end, where he’s got tons of potential at 6-foot-8 and his feel for it is just as encouraging as the physical profile. That makes it no surprise he has some big fans, like The Ringer slotting him 17th and Vecenie having Penda just on the edge of the lottery at 15th.
There’s just a real lack of an offensive track record for Penda, both with his jumper and slashing to the basket that is bordering on barren considering the minimums NBA wings have to reach to stay on the floor.
Yang has created some buzz as your classic giant big man that can actually pass, handle and shoot a bit. Those attributes will have to be more than theoretical and actually the defining parts of his game because everything else is just fine.
He is comfortably outside the first round on big boards, but we should note he created some buzz in the last two months and was a riser.
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