In a European market flooded with competitive, often financially struggling clubs, aggressive agents, and international talent evaluators yearning for an NBA scouting gig, prospects are identified and evaluated at a much earlier age than in the U.S. Under-14 and under-12 camps and tournaments are commonplace, as top prospects often agree to amateur deals with their local club or a basketball powerhouse like Real Madrid well before they can drive a car. While you never want to over-scout at too young of an age, it's important to at least be aware of the top international prospects who are up next.
Understanding when the next Kristaps Porzingis or Giannis Antetokounmpo may be coming and tracking their development is certainly a priority for NBA teams. Knowing of these prospects by age 16 or so pays dividends, as -- like high school juniors -- they are only a few years away from being draft eligible.
With that in mind, we scouted the Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT) in L'Hospitalet, Spain, as well as the Baltic Sea Cup in Tallinn, Estonia, where Porzingis first debuted outside of Latvia as a 15-year-old. We also attended games both in France Pro B (second division) and France's under-21 league known as Espoirs, which is full of prospects who aren't yet draft eligible. Here's our breakdown of the top non-draft-eligible international prospects we scouted.