Alright, so today was one of those days where I just wanted to get a straight answer about something that seemed simple: how tall is this French basketball kid Nolan Traore everyone’s buzzing about for next year’s draft? You’d think it’d be easy to find, right? Yeah, not so much.
The Starting Point: Confusion City
I sat down with my coffee this morning, fired up the laptop, and started digging. First stop? Draft projections sites. Big mistake. I saw numbers flying everywhere. One site screamed he was 6’5″. Cool. But then I click another link – bam! – suddenly it’s like he shrank down to 6’3″. Then somewhere else, it mentions 191 centimeters, which is… what? Roughly 6’3″ again? Or is it closer to 6’4″? My head started spinning just trying to keep track. Why is this so dang hard? He’s a top prospect!
Digging Deeper: The Barefoot Truth
Okay, frustration kicked in. Time to get serious. I remembered hearing somewhere that the NBA cares about barefoot height these days, not the old shoes-on stuff. Makes sense. So I shifted gears. Went hunting specifically for that “official” barefoot measurement. Scrolled through articles announcing draft entrants, scouting reports, even forum discussions where people sometimes post the nitty-gritty details they find.
After clicking way too many tabs, it started clicking into place:
- Draft Combine Talk: Several places mentioned his height was measured officially at the NBA Combine events. Finally! A standard measurement.
- The Number Appeared: Article after article focusing on his draft status confirmed it: 6 feet 3.00 inches barefoot. That’s the golden number (well, 190.5 cm if you like metric).
- Weight Check: Most sources agreed on that too – hovering right around 175 pounds.
Seeing that barefoot number pop up consistently across multiple legit draft-focused sources was like finding the light switch. There it is.
Understanding the “Tall” Perception
So why do some sites still say 6’4″ or even 6’5″? That’s what had me confused early on. I think I figured it out:
- Old Reports: Some early hype pieces probably used older estimates or listed his height with shoes (adding that inch or more) before the official combine barefoot measurement was recorded.
- Position Matters: For a point guard, 6’3″ barefoot is still really good size! That puts him well over 6’4″ in shoes. When you see him on the court compared to other PGs, he definitely looks tall. Maybe some reports just went with that visual.
- Listing Inconsistency: Different leagues or teams might list heights differently – shoes or no shoes. The basketball world still hasn’t fully standardized this everywhere outside the draft process.
It all suddenly made sense why there was so much variation. They weren’t necessarily wrong; they were often just measuring different things or using outdated info.
Wrapping My Head Around His Frame
Seeing his weight (175 lbs) alongside that height made me pause. He’s listed everywhere as a point guard. At 6’3″ barefoot, that’s fantastic PG height. But man, 175 lbs is lean for the NBA grind, especially trying to defend some of those bigger guards. I remember reading he’s got a solid wingspan (like over 6’8″!) and good athleticism, which definitely helps. But looking at his actual stats today – the height, the weight – it’s clear the big physical project for him is going to be adding muscle over the next year. Can’t just rely on being tall-ish for the position; gotta get stronger.
So yeah, that was my deep dive. Went in confused about a simple number, came out understanding why it seemed confusing, and locked in on the official barefoot measurement everyone serious about the draft is using now: 6’3″. Simple question, surprisingly messy journey to the answer!
