Alexandre Sarr has been the talk of NBA Draft boards since pulling on a Perth jersey for the first time.

From his pre-season performances against the NBA G-League Ignite to a pair of clutch triples against Adelaide last week, Sarr has risen as high as the mooted second selection in Bleacher Report’s mock draft, while ESPN currently has him being taken at four.

Not bad for a player who was floating around pick 20 before he joined the Next Stars program.

While NBL fans – and hoops fans all over the world – are only just beginning to see the ridiculous potential of this French phenom, Perth players have been locked in on their young teammate since he joined up with them in pre-season.

Jordan Usher, who himself is a prodigious talent within the NBL landscape at just 25, has pleaded with whichever NBA team selects Sarr to be cautious in aiding his development.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">Alex. Sarr. Daggers. <a href="https://t.co/uB3IUfiOoS">pic.twitter.com/uB3IUfiOoS</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1710269108355268708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Whatever NBA team gets him, please be cautious with him, and build him to be a super successful guy,” Usher told ESPN.

“Don’t tell him not to shoot threes, don’t tell him not to do anything because he’s so raw and talented. As of right now he can shoot threes, he can shoot a floater, he can dunk the ball, he can block the ball, he can handle it a little bit. I just don’t want anyone to mould him in the wrong way.

“He’s going to have a killer career. He’s the greatest young dude, he’s so nice, he’s spirited, he’s funny. He’s a kid who’s going to have a super illustrious career and I just can’t wait to see him do it.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NEXT STARS PROGRAM

Playing with Sarr is not Keanu Pinder’s first experience of playing with a highly touted Next Star. In fact, the former Cairns and Adelaide centre can lay claim to having played with arguably the best of those to graduate the program.

Josh Giddey.

Pinder struggled to earn court-time that season in a star-studded roster that also included Isaac Humphries, Jack McVeigh and Daniel Johnson, but he’s drawn comparisons between Giddey and Sarr, whose brother Olivier plays alongside the Boomers guard at Oklahoma City.

“He reminds me a little bit of Giddey when he came into the league,” Pinder told ESPN.

“He was mature mentally. To see that basketball maturity at that age is special, so you can tell he’s going to go a long way.”

For the full story head to >> ‘He’s gonna have a killer career’: The young Wildcat with sky-high NBA ceiling.