NBA Draft 2023: Wizards trade for 7th pick, select Bilal Coulibaly

The new Washington Wizards executive team continued their aggressive deal-making, trading into the 7th pick to select French wing Bilal Coulibaly.

To move up one spot and secure Coulibaly, the Wizards gave up a pair of 2028 second round picks. With the eighth pick, the Indiana Pacers took Jarace Walker, who will likely become a starting forward.

Coulibaly has one of the biggest upsides in this draft. His numbers won’t jump off the page, but the potential he has is through the roof. He was Washington’s pick in two mock drafts last week, and ranked fifth overall in Kevin Broom’s stat-based YODA prospect analysis system.

Coulibaly played this past season for Mets 92 in France, alongside No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama. He got better and better as the season progressed, dropping his career-high of 37 points along the way.

He grew from 5-11 to 6-8 over the past two years and built himself into an NBA lottery pick.

New general manager Will Dawkins said before the draft that he wanted to take big swings in the draft, and this is a pick that qualifies. In Coulibably, the Wizards get an athletic wing with high potential. He’ll have plenty of minutes to develop, make mistakes, and improve. Very happy with this selection!