2025 NBA Draft: Perth Wildcats forward Izan Almansa and top Australian hopes look to hear names get called out
Outgoing Perth Wildcats forward Izan Almansa is among a handful of NBL graduates looking to continue Australia's strong recent record as an NBA breeding ground when Thursday's (WA time) draft gets underway.
Since 2020, nine players have been snapped up in the NBA Draft having plied their craft in Australia in the preceding months, including former Wildcats duo Luke Travers (2022) and Alex Sarr (2024).
Almansa is considered a chance to join that group, with the 208cm Spaniard projected by analysts as either a late pick in Friday's second round or to go undrafted.
The 20-year-old showed plenty of signs of his considerable talent for Perth, averaging 7.2 points and four rebounds per game in a largely reserve role. But it is not known whether the one-month ban he served for testing positive to cannabis – revealed last week – will impact his draft hopes.
While Wildcats teammate Ben Henshall and fellow WA product Alex Condon have both withdrawn their names from the draft pool over the past few weeks, four other Aussies have high hopes of having their names called out.
Sydney Kings forward Alex Toohey is in contention to be Australia's top pick somewhere in the second round, with 200cm Brisbane giant Rocco Zikarsky and Illawarra's championship-winning centre Lachlan Olbrich also in the mix.
Tyrese Proctor, a Sydney-raised point guard who has been playing at US college powerhouse Duke, is a fellow second-round hopeful.
Speaking before his likely elevation to the world's top competition, Toohey said he had learnt plenty from going professional in Australia rather than plying his trade in college, and wasn't worried about the notion of trying to emerge from outside the spotlight of the US.
'Everyone coming from Australia… (Chicago Bulls star) Josh Giddey epitomises that. Everyone's kind of not sure if he's quick enough, if he's athletic enough – that scouting report with all this negative stuff,' Toohey said.
'And then he goes out and has the youngest triple-double of all time.
'As long as you have IQ, you'll make it in any league in the world.'
Duke's Cooper Flagg will be taken by Dallas with the top pick, with the American forward considered one of the most promising recent prospects of recent times.
First round 8am (WA time) Thursday, second round 8am (WA time) Friday
LIKELY TOP-FIVE SELECTIONS
The consensus top pick for some time, the Duke forward is considered one of the biggest 'sure thing' future stars of this century.
The savvy guard is the son of Ron Harper, Michael Jordan's former backcourt teammate at the Chicago Bulls in the late '90s.
The 76ers jumped up in the draft and will likely snap up the athletic shooting guard out of Baylor.
The sharpshooter should join his Duke college teammate in Flagg inside the top handful of picks.
The Jazz need a point guard to lead their new era and could turn to one of the youngest and smallest (189cm) players in the draft.
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