CLEVELAND, Ohio — The NBA Draft is often a race for ready talent. But with the No. 58 pick Thursday night, the Cavs didn’t chase a short-term need. They planted a flag in the future and halfway across the world.
Saliou Niang, a 6-foot-7 forward with a 6-foot-10 wingspan and a motor that never cools, won’t be walking through the doors of Rocket Arena this fall. He may not even set foot in Cleveland for another year, or maybe two.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
“Saliou Niang played in Trento this past year. The last two seasons he’s gotten a lot better,” Cavs general manager Mike Gansey said . “Big credit to Primo Brezec and Igor Tadic, our two international scouts. They’ve been following him since he was like 15. He’s 21, but in basketball years, he’s probably around 18 or 19. The last two years, the strides he’s made has been pretty incredible.
“Saliou will be [overseas] for at least a year, if not more.”
Niang is the latest addition to the Cavs’ quietly consistent approach to international scouting — an approach that rewards patience, trust and belief in long arcs.
In a league obsessed with what’s next, Cleveland has become comfortable waiting.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland celebrate after a play against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first half of play. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
“You could go all the way back to Cedi Osman,” Gansey said of the 31st pick in the 2015 draft. “When we drafted him, he stayed over in Turkey for two years, then we finally brought him over.”
Osman became the first brick in what has become a quietly reliable foundation for the Cavs.
A second-round pick who matured in Europe before carving out a meaningful NBA role, Osman proved that a developmental detour doesn’t mean a dream delayed — it means a dream prepared.
The process has steadily continued for the Cavs.
Khalifa Diop, another Senegalese-born big man like Niang, was taken No. 39 overall in 2022 and remains overseas in Spain with Gran Canaria. His NBA arrival is still on hold, but the belief hasn’t wavered.
Then there’s Luke Travers, the most recent to cross the ocean.
“Luke Travers stayed in Australia for two years before bringing him over,” Gansey said of Travers, who the Cavs drafted in 2022 with the 56th pick.
Travers, a do-it-all Australian wing, played last year on a two-way deal with Cleveland after two seasons of fine-tuning his game in the NBL.
The formula is familiar: Draft. Develop. Trust the process. Let the game travel.
Niang will now move from Trento to Virtus Bologna — an elite Italian club with EuroLeague aspirations. There’s a chance he could represent the Italian national team at this summer’s EuroBasket. Every rep, every role, every arena is part of his path forward.
“Super, super athletic. [Six-foot-seven], really long, can really guard,” Gansey said. “He was just the NBA EuroCamp Defensive Player of the Year. So, he’s really good on the defensive side of the ball. His versatility there, can slash, good cutter, good finisher around the rim.”
And yet, the rawness is part of the intrigue. What Niang isn’t yet may be just as important as what he already is.
So the Cavs will wait — not because they have to, but because they have already reaped the benefits of patience. They’re betting on the slow burn of growth. On a developmental path that doesn’t require an NBA roster spot today, but could yield a rotation piece in the future.
But the main focus of the Cavs during the process for these players’ development overseas is to ensure they don’t feel isolated.
“Primo Brezec and Igor Tadic are our two international guys. They see them eight to 10 times, probably live during the season,” Gansey said. ”I’m texting with ‘em. I go over there two, three times a year to see ‘em. Koby [Altman], Brandon Weems, Brendon Yu, our whole scouting department will go over there and see ‘em.
“They’re part of our family. Even though they’re playing overseas, we still have their draft rights and we still want to invest in them and that’s what we’re going to do with Saliou.”
That kind of consistency doesn’t just help development — it builds belonging.
Niang isn’t the only overseas-born pick Cleveland made this year. At No. 49, they added Tyrese Proctor, the Duke guard who grew up in Australia.
Whether by fate or design, the Cavs now could have two Aussies on the roster in Proctor and Luke Travers — depending on if the Cavs bring Travers back on another two-way contract.
Each shaped by the international game, and now teammates in Cleveland. That connection won’t just make Proctor’s transition easier; it gives him a guide who understands the cultural leap better than anyone else in the locker room.
And if Proctor ever needs a vision board, he doesn’t have to look far.
Cleveland Cavaliers Matthew Dellavedova claps with fans at the start of the team’s NBA Championship victory parade outside The Q, Wednesday, June 22, 2016. (Marvin Fong / The Plain Dealer) The Plain DealerThe Plain Dealer
Matthew Dellavedova — another Aussie, another Cavalier — is one of the few who can call a Cleveland championship ring his own. In 2016, Dellavedova turned relentless effort into legend, a reminder that impact can come in all forms, from anywhere in the world. He remains a symbol, a contact, a connection to what’s possible.
If and when Niang makes the leap to Cleveland, he won’t be stepping into the unknown.
The Cavs have made space for the international game to call Cleveland home, and there are examples all around of how that leap can work.
In a draft that offered the Cavs few clear paths to immediate impact due to roster uncertainty and a lack of picks, they chose instead to double down on their principles: global vision, long-term thinking, and investment in upside.
For the Cavaliers, this is about more than stashing talent until a roster spot opens. It’s about believing that the NBA can be both a destination and a development tool. That it can be a platform for players whose journeys began far from the spotlight but deserve to arrive there all the same.
In a week where the Cavs have two key free agents awaiting clarity and not enough flexibility to fill the roster creatively, this kind of pick matters more than it may appear. It’s an investment not just in Cleveland’s future, but in the league’s reach. This is how the game grows — player by player, country by country, year by year.
By drafting Niang, the Cavaliers reminded the world: players don’t have to be ready right now to matter. They just have to be seen, believed in, and given the space to grow.
And that’s exactly what the Cavs have done, once again.
