Cleveland, Ohio – The Cavs finished their transport of the 2025 NBA by selecting the international swingman fast Saliou Niang with choice n ° 58.
Sources indicate to Cleveland.com that the riders will Ranger Niang with his team Euroleague Virtus Bologna in Italy next season. They hope that Niang will be able to participate in the Las Vegas Summer League – although this has not been decided.
Versatile wing 6 feet 8 inches from Senegal, Niang was one of the many perspectives that the CAVs organized for training during the pre-Rôti process. During this session, Niang impressed the team’s decision -makers by its size, athletics, competitiveness and its set of disturbing defensive skills.
Emerging from darkness, Niang has become an effective player from the Italian League and Eurocup for the Aquila Trento basketball club. He collected on average 8.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20.3 minutes, helping Trento win the Italian national cup 2025. Niang was also appointed the most improved player in Basket Lega Seria A.
Although his offensive game is a work in progress, hitting only 11 points to 3 points in 45 games and recording more turnover than the assists, the deep and talented Cavs had no room for another help player, so they chose to go in a different direction, taking an upward swing.
With a continuous commitment to the development of players, the Cavs will be patient, giving Niang time to mature before considering bringing it back to the NBA.
“The last two seasons, it has improved a lot. The progress he has made has been quite incredible,” said Managing Director Mike Gansey about Niang. “It will be a great opportunity for him to play at the highest level there and we will follow him and keep an eye on him.”
Cleveland entered Thursday – the second night of the draft – with two second round selections. They had no first round due to Donovan Mitchell’s blockbuster with Utah three years ago.
Nine choices before Niang leaves the board of directors, Cleveland caught the Duke Tyrese Proctor goalkeeper with the 49th choice in total. Proctor should sign a friendly multi -year contract, claiming a full -time place.
“It was an exciting night,” said Gansey. “We had two 21 -year -olds that we liked in this project that we ranked higher than where we took them.”
After finishing 64-18 in the regular season 2024-25 and won the seed n ° 1 of the conference, the CAVS were eliminated by the NBA finalist, Indiana in the second round. The Pacers finally lost against Oklahoma City Thunder in match 7 of the NBA final.
In the aftermath of the last cleveland qualifiers, the president of basketball operations Koby Altman discussed the need to make improvements in alignment. The two -night draft, which started Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Wednesday on Wednesday, provided the first opportunity to do so – although a single member of this class will be on the list.
