Dayan Nessah Scouting Report
The mid-majors have been a great resource in finding NBA-caliber wings. The Swiss Army Knife in Dayan Nessah is the next in line. Here's everything you must know about his NBA future:
Dayan Nessah (#7, Cleveland State): Junior, 6’7”
Small Forward — Born: Apr 16, 2006 (19 years old)
Introduction
As a standout performer for his native of Switzerland at the U19 World Cup, Nessah continued to add to his potential outbreak. Scoring close to eighteen per game at the international stage, Nessah adds a blend of toughness, athleticism and role versatility while transferring to the Horizon League.
Fundamentally he’s one of the better players I watched this past summer, with a majory coming from spending years at FC Barcelona’s youth setup. With the NBA’s urging need to continue to add positional size, versatility, and ball handlers, Nessah is set for a campaign that’ll put him on the league’s radar. This scouting report emphasizes a feasible role for him to grow to while showing the needed areas of improvement.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-7, Nessah has excellent size to play as a two and a three in the NBA. He has broad shoulders and a frame that he can continue to fill. At 218 pounds, he has decent strength, but more importantly a great core. Combined with good footwork, Nessah can create angles, absorb contact, and ensure he’s keeping himself in balance. He’s still a teenager who can grow into a power wing, where his combination with handles puts him in much-wanted categories for NBA scouts.
He’s a good athlete and has decent speed and lateral quickness. The positive is that he switches between finesse and strength once he enters the paint. This makes it feasible he can defend against wings and guards, while matching up against forwards. With decent verticality and a long wingspan, his physical potential continues to get better. There is no official measurement available, he should be around 6-foot-11 or seven feet.
Offense
Pick-and-roll scoring
Looking at Nessah’s NBA role, handling the ball as a creating wing is the archetype NBA scouts must focus on when evaluating him. He has a decent handle with a lot of room left for improvement, but surprisingly well in creating angles to attack while using his size and length to his advantage. However, he has shown to be hesitant to be a volume driver, as he’s wasting too much time on the perimeter with his dribbles. He must be more efficient with his movement and dribbles at the next level. The first play shows an example. He’s overdribbling without any real pressure on the rim where he eventually settled for a three-pointer when the angle was good enough.
The second play shows him attacking the rim. However, he wasn’t comfortable in handling the contact, showing some stiff hips in balancing his body out before the finish. Regardless, Nessah showing the skill of continuing to find angles is the return you want to see as a scout. He’ll have to round out and shape his handles while being more expressive to show his creativity when he’s driving to the rim. Another positive is that Nessah is tough and doesn’t back down, despite needing some work on how he handles the contact.
However, his spacial awareness looks lacking and more on-ball reps should help him develop on that end. He’s utilizing the ball screen very well in the third play, however, doesn’t look to factor in the help defender while spinning right into him. The positive part is that he’s focusing on the right angles before his drive, prioritizing lanes where help defense much react, with the weakside baseline as an example in the fourth play below.
Creation out of closeouts
To survive in the NBA, his creation out of closeouts is the most vital part of his offense. There are a lot of positives on that end, but also areas of development that he needs to prioritize in his sophomore year at Cleveland State. Nessah has the habit of settling for shots way before he should. The lack of composure is telling at times, with the first play below showing an example. Right out of the inbound pass, Nessah doesn’t find the separation with the defender guarding up tight. With the shot clock nearing to zero, Nessah didn’t add the potential foul-drawing as he kept the ball higher. Playing with forcing defenders to make a decision they don’t want to make is the creativity that his archetype often needs to succeed in the NBA.
The second and third plays below show him being fearless in initiating contact and attack the ring relentlessly. It results to fouls being drawn, and that’ll be a part where he’s thriving in the Horizon League this season. He’s often shooting out of closeouts, while not attacking them every time. But I like his confidence in trusting his shot when he has the right angles. The fourth play shows an example. There is potential to grow into a good slasher at the next level, but the composure overall has to get better in the next few years.
Shooting off the catch
At 51.9% on 3.9 attempts per game, Nessah has shown great returns at the FIBA U19 World Cup. The numbers aren’t sustainable, but it’s a confidence measure as he trusts his jumper and doesn’t hesitate to shoot when he has the right angle. Recognizing good shots is the next part of his development, and that’ll take him valuable on-ball reps, which makes his situation at Cleveland State this year even better.
The first possession shows him pivoting his left very well. He bends his knees not too far and keeps the ball decently high before rising for his jumper. The release is high-arcing, and he’s playing with his feet to try and make the defense react to him potentially attacking the closeout. The second play below shows an example of him using his size and length to his advantage. The consistency of his jumper makes it feasible that he’ll shoot near 40% as a sophomore, with the third play showing the smoothness and speed with which he gets his shots off.
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
At over three turnovers in both FIBA events, he’s giving the impression of a lack of ball security and decision-making. But most of these turnovers are live-ball turnovers where the lack of composure is telling. That’s been mentioned earlier, where it’s essential for Nessah to be a good ball-mover and secondary creator to fully optimize his archetype as a creating wing. The positive part is that Nessah plays like a reliable ball-mover already, with a nice quick pass in the first play to keep the transition offense moving.
The second play shows Nessah doing exactly what he must do at the next level. Great decision to attack the closeout, forcing the help defender to react and rotate early. This made it an easy execution for the drop-off pass underneath the basket. Nessah has a good feel for recognizing passing angles, and that’s where his potential as a playmaker comes from. The third play shows him immediately decelerating after the screen which lured the drop coverage defender and yet again, he’s immediate with his pass to the roller.
He’s playing like a guard on that end on how well he hides the ball. The fourth play shows an example of him decelerating and using his length to keep the ball out of reach. Great passing accuracy in how easy and well he found the roller with the hard pass over the top. I expect Nessah to demand and earn many ball touches at Cleveland State in a year where he’ll impress with his playmaking.
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Defense
Pick-and-roll
Nessah’s size and length forced him to play as a forward as far as well. That’s helping his career in a positive way, as he’ll be in a situation where he can defend both the roller and ball handler in pick-and-roll situations. He has much better footwork on the defensive side of the ball and looks comfortable to defend in the pick-and-roll. That’s a must-have for NBA scouts as they seek to improve the margins with role versatility on each position. Nessah can continue to bulk up and adjust to forwards while his natural instincts of a guard help him on the perimeter.
The first play shows Nessah embracing the switch and immediately hunting the ball handler, not biting to the jab and keep his feet moving fluidly before he contested the shot well without giving up a good angle to the scorer. However, one of the issues is to absorb contact. That’s where he needs to get stronger. The second possession shows him not staying at 180 degrees and giving up the driving angle on the strong side, whereas the third play shows Nessah easily getting unbalanced when the scorer put the arm in. That’s fixable, the most important part is that the instincts match the footwork and that Nessah shows good mobility when he’s defending against on-ball scorers.
Point of attack
Nessah’s quick last step while sliding his feet consistently and good makes him a viable candidate to grow into a point-of-attack defender in the NBA. That’s a valuable trait considering his archetype of a role-versatile wing. He’s comfortable in matching the creativity of guards while he can grow into a strong enough player to fully embrace physical wings in the NBA. The first three plays below show him move his feet quickly while he’s making good decisions when jabs and fakes are being thrown his way.
The best part in this situation is shown in the fourth play below. Nessah corrects his feet quickly when he’s facing the ball handler. Great instincts. The positive part is that he shows decent screen navigation too with the active tag to the incoming ball screen. Nessah should continue to impress on that end during his sophomore year at Cleveland State.
Closing out
Nessah’s last step is the premium teams get in his closeout defense. Great balance while making decent decisions in his rotations. However, there is one issue; he closes out too far and wide at times which makes it risky that players can blow by him. The first play shows an example. Regardless, the footwork is good enough to where it’s feasible improvements will happen in the next few years. The play itself shows Nessah using decent lateral quickness to impact the finish from behind, but in the NBA, that’s him fouling much more experienced scorers.
The focus must stay that he must keep himself in front of ball handlers and slashers. The fourth play below shows him rotating well after the weak side corner has been found. The last step he shows on that end is simply incredible for a nineteen-year-old and a big testimony to how well his fundamentals have developed. The instincts all make sense. The immediate hunt in the second play to trap the ball handler full court is an example.
Defending away from the ball
When looking at Nessah’s defense away from the ball, the decision-making often needs some work. The level of intensity is also not consistent, with the first play below where he’s simply walking and watching what happens with the ball. In the second possession we see a good rotation to the weak side, but his shot contest wasn’t protecting anything near the rim. The decisions have to improve, and he’ll have to expand his on-ball toughness to his movement and defense when he’s not near the ball handler at all.
However, the positive part is that Nessah looks to limit angles and seeks to close the lanes. The third play shows an example of him showing another good sequence of help defense, seeing the rotation around him as well. The fourth play shows Nessah closing the lanes on the weak side, while staying at a good distance of his assignment in the corner in case of having to close out toward that direction. The potential to grow as a team defender is there, where it’s vital how he’ll translate in the Horizon League where his role versatility will put him in many situations of switching and rotating around the floor.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the above-mentioned areas of development and the strengths, I project Dayan Nessah to be potential lottery pick in the 2027 NBA Draft. He’ll have to work on getting stronger and clean some errors in terms of his composure. That’s his focus in the Horizon League with Cleveland State this year. Regardless, NBA teams should be all over him already. He’s a nineteen-year-old as of November 2025, so teams drafting him at the age of 21 with a few years of experience is the main outlook. The 2026 NBA Draft comes too early, even if he’s making great strides this year.
His archetype, footwork, instincts, and a reliable jumper put him among the most wanted category of archetypes in role versatile defending, shot-creating wings that can handle the ball. The intel checks out. He’s dedicated to the game and an example to his teammates with his work ethic. Add a consistent motor and physical tools to be developed into the mix, and NBA teams will justify paying a premium in the form of a potential lottery pick in 2027.