Babacar Sane is among the many G-League Ignite players in this year’s draft and is intriguing due to his potential and athleticism. If a team with the right situation for Sane can unlock his potential, they will have a very good swingman on their hands for years to come.
Babacar Sane 2024 NBA Draft Profile
G-League Career
Before joining the G-League, Sane attended the NBA Academy Africa in his home country of Senegal. He later participated in the Basketball Africa League for Dakar Université Club. Additionally, Sane went on to play for Senegal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. Sane joined the G-League Ignite, who has several prospects in the draft this year such as Ron Holland or Matas Buzelis, for the 2022-2023 season. With the Ignite, Sane averaged 9.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game for the 2023-2024 season. He shot 40.3% from the field, 28.6% from three, and 73.7% from the foul line. While playing for the Ignite until its closure this season, Sane showcased his athletic abilities and physical tools. Standing at six-foot-seven, Sane has impressed by utilizing his athleticism and mobility in transition, where he is constantly pushing the pace.
Strengths
The most noticeable strength in Sane’s game is his aforementioned athleticism and mobility. He can easily lead the break by himself and race down the court for a big-time dunk. It does not take much effort for Sane to get off the floor as he has great vertical explosiveness. No matter if it is with momentum or from a standstill, Sane can leap out of the gym and he has good hangtime in the air as well. Sane is pretty good at utilizing his physical gifts when attacking the rim, which he can get to easily. For instance, Sane has a good first step to beat defenders and he can get to the rim in only a few strides. Sane can handle the ball a little, allowing him to lead fast-breaks or create for himself at times.
Defensively, Sane plays with a lot of energy and his athleticism shows up as well. He is a decent on-ball defender. Despite his size, Sane will challenge shots at the rim using his leaping ability. He does have the potential to be a multi-positional defender due to his size and mobility. He also has a strong frame that allows him to guard bigger players. Additionally, due to his leaping ability, Sane is a solid rebounder for his size.
Weaknesses
The biggest issue that Sane has as a player is that he currently plays way too out of control. While Sane loves to pressure the rim, sometimes he just runs into a mess of defenders and gets himself stuck in a bad situation. A partial reason for this is that he is very raw as a player and will need patience and further developmental time. Additionally, Sane is quite turnover-prone and he has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.
He will need to learn to slow the game down for himself because he can get sped up, especially when shooting. Speaking of shooting, Sane needs to improve shooting from three and the foul line. He has shot poorly from three in both seasons with the Ignite, even though there were some improvements. There is hope that he could improve more as a shooter since his shooting form is decent. Slowing down his shot is something he would need to do to improve. In general, he could stand to improve his shot selection.
As for defense, he can be undisciplined defensively as he doesn’t have a great feel on defense yet. Specifically, Sane can get confused defensively if he has to defend multiple actions. He can be late when switching, prone to be caught ball-watching, or miss rotations. Furthermore, he fouls a little bit too much, and in some situations, when it’s not necessary.
NBA Comparison
One player that comes to mind who shares some similarities with Sane is Talen Horton-Tucker. While Sane is taller than Horton-Tucker, they both love to attack the rim, going up strong with powerful finishes. They both have excellent physical tools that could make them versatile defensively. They share similar weaknesses as well since both are poor shooters from a distance and are not the greatest defensively. Additionally, they both can be reckless when attacking the basket and turnover-prone at times.
2024 NBA Draft Projection
Late second-round pick to undrafted.
