CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte Hornets selected forward Tidjane Salaün with the sixth pick in the NBA Draft.
Salaün has played in the LNB Élite, the top tier of French basketball, since 2022. He's the third French player who was chosen in the first six picks of the draft.
It's the first major move of the Charles Lee era for the Hornets. Lee was introduced as the head coach of the Hornets on Tuesday, over a month after he was officially hired for the job.
Salaün averaged 9.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 54 games with Cholet Basket this season. He was named the 2023-24 Champions League Best Young Player.
The one big question facing Charlotte heading into the draft was whether or not the front office, led by new general manager Jeff Peterson, wanted to trade or keep the sixth pick. There was not a consensus No. 1 player in this year's draft and some experts say it could be the weakest draft in recent memory. As a result, mock drafts were all over the place with predictions varying wildly based on pre-draft workouts shaking up the projected picks.
The Hornets were linked to trade rumors, including a potential deal with the Houston Rockets for the third pick, but ultimately decided to select Salaün.
Locked On Hornets' Walker Mehl and Doug Branson indicated Charlotte was focused on three players: Kentucky's Reed Sheppard, Connecticut's Stephon Castle, and Tennessee's Dalton Knecht. The most recent mock draft by the Associated Press had the Hornets drafting Hickory native Rob Dillingham with the sixth pick. Dillingham wound up with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who made a deal with San Antonio for the No. 8 pick in the draft.
"There's this idea of the Hornets need to upgrade their wing defense and not included in that list are guys like Ron Holland or maybe Cody Williams," Branson said. "It took a while for the mystery box to open up, but people are finally coalescing behind a list of names for the Hornets."
Ultimately, the Hornets opted to stay put at six and chose Salaün. It was a historic night for France, which had three players taken in the top six picks. There are now only two nations that have seen three native players taken in the top 10 picks. The other is the United States.
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