However, I heard the name of another French point guard mentioned in Warriors circles: Théo Maledon. They’ve got people in the room who are intrigued by Maledon, so just out of sheer desire to counter Strauss, I kicked the tires on the Maledon bandwagon. And I am happy to report that Strauss is wrong. He is so wrong.
Theo Maledon Rumors
The people who know him describe Maledon as an 18-year-old who acts more like he’s 24, a poised, hungry and intense worker. Those characteristics are helping him navigate a pivotal moment in his career. He is a key piece of a team playing in the regular season of the EuroLeague, the continent’s top club competition, for the first time in a decade. He is also a projected first-round pick in the NBA Draft, and in a year where analysts sense an ever-changing draft landscape, Maledon is the type of prospect who could catch fire at the right time and climb high up the lottery. He is doing all of this as Tony Parker’s protégé in a country that absolutely loves Tony Parker. This is why he attracts so much attention from opponents, reporters, scouts and spectators alike. And it’s also why Maledon doesn’t spend much time talking — there is so much work ahead.
Any rising French point guard who climbs through the ranks does so in Parker’s shadow. Fair or not, that prospect will always be compared to the four-time NBA champion. He removes any chance of caveats with those comparisons if he grew up in the city Parker considers home — Rouen, about 35 miles from the English Channel — attended Parker’s camps as a kid and now plays for Parker’s club. Maledon is OK with all that. “He is a legend,” Maledon says. “He gave a lot of hopes to young players to believe in their dream and try to achieve it.”
Maledon is a few inches taller than Parker, but he possesses a similarly skinny frame, at 195 pounds. He loves the runner, or teardrop, the shot Parker perfected and made synonymous with his name in the NBA. He also uses the spin move like Parker. “He reminds me of a young Tony — really,” says Charlotte wing Nicolas Batum, a 31-year-old Frenchman who has played with both. “Theo is really under control, which is not easy for an 18-year-old. He is never in a rush.”
25 Jan
Orazio Cauchi: Masai Ujiri, Raptors top executive, is attending the Euroleague match between ASVEL and Crvena Zvezda. 2001 prospect Theo Maledon, playing for ASVEL, definitely among his targets.
France are emerging like strong contenders for the title, with coach Vincent Collet rounding out his backcourt with experience after spending the closing days of the training camp with a loaded selection of guards. And Andrew Albicy, Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier, Paul Lacombe and Frank Ntilikina got the nod from the head coach, while the last two national team members to be cut were also the two youngest ones in 18-year-old Theo Maledon and 21-year-old Elie Okobo.
