Coming from the exceptional vintage of French basketball in the draft last summer, Tidjane Salaün (19 years old), chosen in No. 6 by the Charlotte Hornets, is attacking his NBA career with “confidence”, ready to “go through the stages” as the manga heroes he likes.
Remaining on the bench during the Hornets’ success in Houston on Wednesday to open the season, Salaün, victim of a sprained middle finger on his left hand, also did not set foot on the floor during the confrontation with the Hawks in Atlanta Friday, where he could have found his compatriot No. 1 in the draft Zaccharie Risacher.
It was not until the reception of the Miami Heat on Saturday (114-106 defeat) that Salaün came off the bench for the first time. In eight minutes played, the French Rookie attempted a single three-point shot, missed, and made a single defensive rebound, an area where he is expected.
But the player discovers a new universe, and assimilation goes well. “I integrated well with everyone, the staff and the players, veterans like Grant Williams and Miles Bridges facilitated my integration,” he explained to AFP on Thursday in the luxury hotel in the center of Atlanta where the Hornets were staying.
Salaün, between two English lessons, is impressed by the facilities and the professionalism of his franchise between cooking, dietetics and care: “It’s square!”
New nugget from Cholet (like before him Rudy Gobert, Nando de Colo, Rodrigue Beaubois…), the second youngest player in the NBA this season (he celebrated his 19th birthday on August 10) knows that he is particularly awaited by his coach Charles Lee in defense.
“That’s what will allow me to have minutes. And then, simply to play efficiently. That is to say, taking shots when I’m open, making the right choices and grabbing rebounds.”
Salaün (2.03 m), winger or power forward, hopes to enter the rotation of a team whose starting five seems blocked.
– “Better mentality” –
He builds his “confidence” by reading the biographies of Kobe Bryant or Derrick Rose, “for the second time”.
He also finds his inspiration in fiction, in particular in the shonen manga “My Hero Academia”, his phone wallpaper, where the main character Izuku becomes a hero without initially possessing any power, unlike his friends and adversaries. .
Like him? “Everything that is happening to me now, I have the impression that it is the same, I really compare myself. I had to develop my desire, among the young people I was not the one who was put forward, each year, like in My Hero Academia, I passed stages when I arrived in the NBA, I started a story from scratch.
Tidjane Salaün is also inspired by her older sister Janelle (23), Olympic silver medalist with Les Bleues in August.
“When I was young,” he says, “I didn’t really do anything extra. Janelle liked extra training too much, she was already set on her goals. She knew she wanted to be a professional, whereas I did. was for fun, I didn’t really care.”
The Ile-de-France region experienced “a breakthrough” by integrating the Ile-de-France hope center and then the Pôle France at Insep in 2020.
“I simply followed in my sister’s footsteps in terms of work. She had the best mentality.”
– Message from Wembanyama –
His exceptional draft position has been trivialized by the last two years of the French: Salaün was beaten in 2024 by Zaccharie Risacher (N.1) and Alexandre Sarr (N.2); the previous year, Victor Wembanyama came out on top, Bilal Coulibaly in No.7.
Last year, in a “bit of a struggle” while he was still playing in the French Elite championship, he approached Wembanyama. “I asked Wemby for advice. With his career, he showed that work counts and will always count, that inspires me like crazy.”
The San Antonio Spurs phenomenon sent him “a long text” in response.
“I’m a little disgusted because, unintentionally, I pressed a button and it didn’t record, that’s Snapchat… That text really helped me a lot. It helped me a lot. was extremely pleasing and I applied it to the letter, it was advice on the mind, how to climb the ladder.”
Called up in the past for the youth national team, he says he is “interested” in the French team in the future. “But that’s not my primary goal, it’s my career already at the club.”
Like his heroes, Salaün intends to take the steps gradually.
rg/jan/hpa
