In addition, former Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura was No. 26 and former Wizards center Moritz Wagner was No. 29.
Washington Wizards guard Bilal Coulibaly will play for the France men’s national basketball team in the 2024 Olympics. But you knew that already. So where does he rank among the 144 (12 players of 12 teams) who are on all the national basketball teams?
Higher than you might think.
Ricky O’Donnell of SB Nation’s national team wrote up the 2024 Olympics’ top 50 men’s basketball players. Coulibaly ranked No. 46 out of all of the players who will be on the list. Here is the blurb on him specifically.
46. Bilal Coulibaly, F, France: The No. 7 overall pick for the Wizards in the 2023 draft. Coulibaly is a super athletic 6’8 wing who can be a pest defensively, finish plays above the rim on both ends, and be a demon in transition.
There are also some former Wizards who ranked higher than Coulibaly. Moritz Wagner (Germany) ranked No. 29 and Rui Hachimura (Japan) ranked No. 26.
And though the USA Basketball men’s national team is the favorite to win the gold, none of the Top 3 players are Americans. Nikola Jokic (Serbia) is ranked the highest, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada).
Stephen Curry was the highest ranked American at No. 4 followed by LeBron James at No. 5.
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