Ousmane N'Diaye Scouting Report
He's been on draft radars for years. But Ousmane N'Diaye suffered from a lack of playing time early in his career. Regardless, he has true NBA potential as an athletic, switchable floor-spacer.
Ousmane N’Diaye (#46, Baskonia/CB Granada): 2004, 6'11"
Power Forward/Center — Born: Mar 19, 2004 (21 years old)
Introduction
Playing for an ACB powerhouse in Baskonia, N’Diaye struggled to crack the rotation. This led to him being loaned out to CB Granada, who aimed to avoid relegation but couldn’t make it happen. N’Diaye came off the bench and averaged over three points and close to three rebounds in eleven minutes per contest. The numbers aren’t relevant, as his draft profile is focused on the long run.
N’Diaye has been on draft radars for multiple years, mostly for his gifted physical tools. Despite being on the raw side, teams value what he can turn into, as he’s still scratching the surface of his potential despite being a 21-year-old. The positive side of his evaluation is that N’Diaye is a situational and utility player. That gives him a more feasible role to tap into. His exact role is the emphasis of the scouting report, with a focus on a few areas of untapped potential.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-11, N’Diaye is a long, lengthy, and fluid athlete with great mobility. He’s working to fill his frame and looks much stronger than he was a few years ago. He has excellent core strength and fluid hips and moves like a wing rather than a forward. He’s crafty but learns how to handle physicality much better. That’s an area of attention.
He has good foot speed and lateral quickness. On top of that, he’s an excellent vertical athlete, opening the path to be a switchable defender and lob threat. There is no wingspan measurement available, but it’s expected to be near 7-foot-4. At 210 pounds, I expect N’Diaye to continue to bulk up at the next level.
Defense
Pick-and-roll
N’Diaye has the length and fluidity to not rely on drop coverage. However, he gambles more often in his decision-making. It’s partially due to a lack of a feel for the game and inconsistent minutes throughout the last few years. The Liga ACB is the best domestic league in Europe, and he’s facing fundamentally sound opponents with the experience he doesn’t have. However, there are promising flashes that need to be taken into consideration.
He recognizes the switch in the first play below. Not giving too much space on the perimeter while keeping the strong side closed was a good move. However, he was too far positioned from the ball handler. The length led to a good contest, regardless. However, the urge to put his feet on the perimeter line isn’t needed. The second play shows an example. N’Diaye went over the screen while the coverage was tight. That bailed the ball handler out. Despite keeping the angles decently closed from behind, he was lured into the foul. At 1.3 personal fouls per eleven minutes, he still shows that he can play in control.
The third play shows N’Diaye dialed in to keep up with his assignment, which moved away from the ball. He kept his composure and focused on the elbow area before picking up the deflection to run the transition play. The fourth play shows him strongly closing the passing angle in the middle while trying to take away the finishing angle at the rim. When his defense collapsed, and he had a two versus one, that’s the best-case scenario, as N’Diaye did well to try and deflect the dropoff pass.
Closeouts
Stay in your lane. That’s the message for N’Diaye when he’s closing out. His lack of experience is telling, as he’s constantly baited into leaving the interior to focus on taking away the shot. But he’s making it too easy for opponents to fake him out of plays and collapse the defense. NBA scouts will grade this as a red flag because of the lack of awareness of what his diving on the perimeter means if the inevitable fake occurs.
The first play led to N’Diaye fully diving on the jab step, as he thought the three would be launched immediately. We see a good rotation in the second play, but N’Diaye again didn’t focus on taking away dribble penetration and making ball handlers beat him. That’s not good for a team’s defensive rating. However, N’Diaye shows flashes of his excellent mobility when he makes the right decisions.
The third play is an example. He kept his composure on the rotation and closed the lane with his length, sliding his feet well in the process and forcing the ball handler into the decision he didn’t prefer. That’s a promising possession, but consistency is lacking, and that’s where he must do more to convince NBA teams.
Catch-and-shoot
His defensive awareness is solid. That’s promising to make future improvements more feasible. N’Diaye uses his length and foot speed well to close passing lanes and shows consistency in his rotations. That’s promising when considering the long-term potential. Therefore, his stops against spot-up shooters give his profile a positive boost. The first play below is a great sequence where N’Diaye places one foot in the paint to deny entry in the paint and force the kick-out pass to the strong side corner. He then leaps well off his left foot and dives into the shooter’s pocket for a clean, contested shot.
In the second play, N’Diaye doesn't allow the cut on the weak side with his active tagging. He didn’t ball-watch and recognized well what happened around him. The entry pass was fully in N’Diaye’s lane, who reacted well when the kick out to his assignment occurred with the well-contested shot in the corner. The fourth play is another positive where N’Diaye deflected the ball reversal with his presence inside the arc. He’s good at defending space outside the paint, rotating well to use one foot in the paint to maintain control. There’s room for N’Diaye to add more body to an interior defense reacting to motion and finding open shooters. That’s a value riser.
Fast pace and stops in transition
Despite having the foot speed and lateral quickness to generate stops in transition, the lack of experience gets in N’Diaye’s way. He needs to improve his feel for the game and decision-making on that end. When running back in transition, his presence is needed inside the lane close to the basket. Dribble-penetrating guards will inevitably find paint touches against a non-set defense. Therefore, adjusting and taking his position inside the arc is a must to develop in the next few years.
In the first play, N’Diaye misses the rotation and must correct it at the end against the play-finisher ducking inside the paint. N’Diaye must keep his composure and not dive for the contest when the scorer has both of his feet set but has not moved up yet. These easy decisions can compensate for the lack of experience.
In the second play, he shouldn’t immediately pick up the ball handler and rely on drop coverage. N’Diaye tried to beat his man far from the three-point line, and in transition, that’s difficult. Therefore, adding more body in the paint is a must, and a potential off-the-dribble transition three is a shot most defenses are okay giving away. When he’s not defending the on-ball opponent, he’s much better in his rotations, with the third play showing an example.
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Offense
Floor-spacing and catch-and-shoot
N’Diaye’s jumper makes it easier for him to roam between the four and the five. He’s an excellent floor-spacer with a good shooting motion. He sets his feet quickly and elevates well for his jumper. In terms of durability, his shooting process doesn’t require him to jump high. That puts less pressure on his knees and ligaments and makes it feasible for him to be a volume shooter at the next level. As the graph above shows, 111 non-corner threes in two full seasons give NBA scouts a great sample size to grade his three-point shot.
However, he’s rushing his shots too often. The first play shows an example. The entry pass arrives at the top of the key, and with the five sealing off his man, the dropoff pass was the right decision to make. Instead, N’Diaye took an unbalanced fadeaway jumper. Regardless, the movement away from the ball is positive. N’Diaye doesn’t camp the corner and does well moving to where he’s needed to receive easy passes. The second play shows an example where he sets both feet well before the corner three.
In the third play, there’s a similar sequence showing N’Diaye having both his feet set while positioning his body at 180 degrees from the basket. He never corrects his stance after the catch because the process is consistent. That adds value to a team’s offensive rating as movement without the ball and floor spacing are two positives N’Diaye brings to the table.
Pick-and-pop
N’Diaye is working on adding a floater to his game. He doesn’t have tight handles but puts the ball on the floor well enough to attack closeouts after pick-and-pop sequences. While improving his upper body strength, N’Diaye got much better as a screener. He slides well after the ball screen to pop to his spot on the perimeter. With a strong last step, he positions himself to pivot between shooting and taking his man off the dribble. In draft evaluations, the ability to dribble, pass, or shoot is often discussed, whereas N’Diaye defines the aforementioned.
Great shot-fake in the first play where N’Diaye collapses the defense and tries the runner finish before meeting his assignment inside. The finish was forced, and he shows a lack of touch. Therefore, NBA coaches must help him develop a more consistent floater to add value to his game as a closeout scorer. The second play shows another good sequence. N’Diaye does well reverse pivoting before his slashing and uses the east-to-west move to generate the right scoring angle. The lack of a finish is not an issue, as the process makes too much sense.
As a pick-and-pop shooter, N’Diaye moves well after he puts his ball screen. Getting the right three-point shots off is the basis for playing pick-and-pop effectively, and that’s where N’Diaye adds value to his draft profile.
Self-creation out of closeouts
N’Diaye plays out of control when he’s attacking closeouts. The lack of composure is telling, and the lack of experience is the main issue. He’s rushing his decisions, often taking unbalanced shots. The lack of strength and burst denies him paint touches. Granted, there’s a lot less floor spacing in Europe because of a tighter interior. But that doesn’t take away from a lack of mastering his physical tools to create advantages. N’Diaye must play as a four in the NBA when spacing the floor, but he’s not good at creating the right angles off the dribble. That’s an issue.
He does well to prioritize the weak side in the first play below. However, when planting his last step, he doesn’t show composure to scan the floor for the right pass, and instead, he bails out of the defense by throwing his advantage away by setting for the midrange jumper. In the second play, N’Diaye was out of balance, and a teammate hit the deck. Regardless, he must stay away from forcing the corner three there and prioritize the extra pass or take advantage of the space inside the lane with a slash from the corner. Another air ball in the third play despite a great advantage creation. N’Diaye smoothly shook his opponent out of balance, and instead of keeping his composure, he again threw the advantage away with the unbalanced shot.
Everything begins with composure and focusing on making the right play. That’s where NBA coaches must help N’Diaye improve his feel for the game.
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
As a result of the lack of composure, N’Diaye posted ten assists to eighteen turnovers this season. The low sample size is taking away the value of the production, but regardless, N’Diaye is not a good decision-maker, nor does he show potential to improve in the short term. However, he’s much more suited to play as a ball-mover while developing a short-roll passing game because of his excellent screening.
The context behind his rushed decision-making is trying to be a spark off the bench in limited minutes and ball touches. N’Diaye’s lack of composure takes away the capability to execute easy reads. That’s a must to show during team workouts. In the first play below, N’Diaye shows flashes of taking risks. That’s a positive, as he hits the cutter right in the finishing pocket with the overhead pass. In the second and third plays below, his ball-moving is on display with the pass while also showing the handoff and screen in the weak side corner.
The last play shows how sneaky good his court vision can be. It's a great sequence where he’s not wasting time in the post-up, using his length and size as an advantage to throw the overhead ball reversal to the weak-side shooter. It’s rough at times, but NBA teams could convince themselves they have a quick decision-maker as a ball-mover in their hands with N’Diaye’s profile.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Ousmane N’Diaye to be a second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. There’s a small pool of players available, which makes it more likely teams will prioritize a stashed pick. Regardless, N’Diaye is best to develop in the United States, where he can play more comfortably in the G League. Athletically, he belongs, but his game needs to compensate for a lack of playing time in the last few years. I expect an NBA team to be convinced of his athleticism, physical tools, and floor spacing.