Bilal Coulibaly created the surprise by being called in 7th position during the NBA draft on the night of Thursday to Friday in France.
Because it’s not just Victor Wembanyama, Bilal Coulibaly also created a sensation by being called in 7th position in the NBA draft this Thursday, June 22 by the Indiana Pacers before moving to the Washington Wizards side. “A crazy thing for the French at the microphone of beIN Sports. “It’s nice, it’s a dream since we were little for all French basketball players! It was a surprise. I saw the cameras coming and I was like ‘what’s going on?’ I am very happy and very proud. It’s a crazy thing.”
“Wemby” did not fail to congratulate his former teammate after the draft. “For Bilal, I was really proud, commented Wembanyama a little later to the French media. An emotion of phew. I was 11-12 when we met, he was 1.65m, he was everything frail! It’s so nice to see a kind and generous guy like Bilal being rewarded.”
At Metropolitans 92, the winger performed during the 2023 play-offs dazzling the entire League and attracting interested glances across the Atlantic. His rise has been pretty crazy. Bilal Coulibaly played his first professional minutes in 2022. He managed to oil himself in the Mets squad. He was even able to make a name for himself in this team in which the media attention is nevertheless centered on his playing partner, Victor Wembanyama. During the play-offs, he was able to fully express his potential with 8.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. In the regular season, he also had a great 3-point success with 45.2%.
Bilal Coulibaly was born on July 26, 2004 in Saint-Cloud. He started basketball when he was a child at the Courbevoie club. In this commune of Hauts-de-Seine, he evolved until 2017 before joining the Levallois Sporting Club. During this period, he also participated in a tournament with Victor Wembanyama, whom he has known since childhood. His talent was expressed later on the floors of Espoirs Betclic Elite with the U21s. It was in September 2022 that the winger played his first professional minutes.
Bilal Coulibaly will appear for the draft aged 18. He will be 19 in the summer of 2023.
Like most basketball players, his wingspan is quite impressive at 2.18m.
He could have belonged to this group of people who measure at least 2m. But Bilal Coulibaly remains confined to his 99 meter which does not prevent him from performing on the court.
