French sensation Noa Essengue has been on draft radars for several years. The long, talented wing entered the spotlight when he signed with Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga.
Currently just 18 years old, Essengue is one of the youngest players in this draft class and is widely projected to be a first-round pick. While he is the son of a former professional basketball player, the sport wasn’t the first thing he loved.
Meet NBA Draft Prospect Noa Essengue’s Father, Gaston Essengué
Essengue was born on Dec. 18, 2006, in Orléans, Loiret, France, and is the son of former Cameroonian basketball player Gaston Essengué. Gaston played college basketball for the UNLV Rebels from 2005-07, averaging 5.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game in 65 contests.
Gaston went undrafted in the 2007 NBA Draft but still played professional basketball for over a decade across countries like France and Turkey. He eventually transitioned to coaching and now works as a coach for Venados de Mazatlán in Mexico.
Gaston didn’t get to spend much time with Essengue during his childhood, and his mother, a math teacher, raised him instead. While information about her professional life isn’t available in the public domain, the French forward reportedly calls her back in Orléans almost every day.
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Despite his father being a basketball player and coach, Essengue’s first love wasn’t the family business. Instead, he was just following what his brother, Mathis, was doing before eventually starting to play basketball at age 12.
“I don’t really have a sporty family,” he told Olympics.com. “But I think I have the advantage of having a very close-knit family. When I was little, I didn’t live with my dad, but mostly with my older brother Mathis and my mom. I followed my older brother a lot; as soon as he changed sports, I followed him everywhere. He started doing judo, I followed him and did it for five years. After that, he went to tennis, and I went to tennis too.”
“One day he decided to play basketball, and I signed up too. I started to enjoy it and thought, ‘Why not make it my career?’”
Essengue truly came onto the NBA’s radar during a preseason game between Ratiopharm Ulm and the Portland Trail Blazers in October 2024. He shone with 20 points, eight rebounds, and three assists against NBA players such as Scoot Henderson, DeAndre Ayton, and Deni Avdija, with the latter two even congratulating him and patting him on the back.
Noa Essengue measured 6’10” (barefoot), 203.9 lbs, 7’0¾” wingspan, 9’1¾” standing reach.
Elite tools for a modern potential 3-and-D forward. Question is can he develop enough skill to reach a Siakam or Jerami Grant-level ceiling?pic.twitter.com/MavRkqAUMA
— NetsKingdom 👑🗽 (@NetsKingdomAJ) June 13, 2025
It motivated Essengue and gave him the belief that he belonged in the league. And now, he has enough confidence to say that he can be as good as Kevin Durant and Brandon Ingram.
“Guys like KD, Brandon Ingram… they can do it all: defend, dribble, shoot. It makes you think, if they can do it at that size, why can’t I? They’re not very big, but they can take the hits,” he said.
Standing at 6’10”, the Frenchman is extremely versatile on both ends of the floor, playing more like a wing than a big man. Essengue has displayed a great instinct for the game, finding open teammates and knowing when to space the floor and cut to the rim. His three-point shooting has been inconsistent, but he acknowledges he still needs to grow a lot.
