24. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Philadelphia 76ers
Luwawu-Cabarrot continued the late run on international players in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Luwawu-Cabarrot really made a name for himself when he joined Mega Leks the season before he would become eligible to be drafted. The Serbian program was well-known as one of the few European programs that would feature younger players and Luwawu-Cabarrot made the most of the spotlight that he got during his time there.
The 76ers were still in the middle of their process-driven rebuild and Luwawu-Cabarrot was a likely stash option for the Sixers at the time of the draft. Even if he did come over he was scouted as a perimeter shooting threat and even if a team is planning on tanking a season there’s no such thing as too much shooting.
Luwawu-Cabarrot would decide to ditch the ABA League and join the Sixers in the NBA following the draft. Once again, he saw a lot of time in the G-League as a rookie with the Delaware 87ers but with Ben Simmons’ preseason injury and Joel Embiid sidelined the Sixers season was already down the drain. It gave them the chance to let Luwawu-Cabarrot be baptized by fire and he would see action in 69 games (still a career-high) as a rookie. With that early experience, the hope was that Luwawu-Cabarrot’s development would be fast-tracked going forward.
Since then, Luwawu-Cabarrot has had a hard time cracking into a rotation with any NBA team. He spent a second season with the Sixers before he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer before his third season. His time with the Thunder didn’t last long as he was moved again in February to the Chicago Bulls. With the Bulls also attempting to tank at the end of the 2018-19 it was NBA life coming full circle for the French swingman.