Breaking down the role that Louisville basketball transfer commit Aboubacar Traore will play in 2024-25.
Louisville basketball is on a roll in the transfer portal under first-year head coach Pat Kelsey.
After visiting over the weekend, the Cardinals have reeled in versatile forward Aboubacar Traore from Long Beach State.
A positionless player from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Traore is a stat stuffer akin to what we expected to see in Kelsey’s system.
Last season, the 6’5″ Traore averaged 12.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game.
Per Bart Torvik, Traore was the only player in the country that had a block rate over 5%, defensive rebounding rate over 10%, assist rate over 20%, a block rate over 5%, and a steal rate over 2.5%.
If you remove assists from this list, he is the only player in the country with all of those metrics that averaged even a 17% assist rate. Traore’s 26.6% assist rate ranked 133rd in the country, his block rate was 157th nationally, and his free throw rate was 56th in the country.
In short, Traore dishes out assists at the rate of a guard, gets to the free-throw line at the rate of a center, and blocks shots well above the mean of both positions.
Traore can play and defend almost every position on the floor, which will come as a welcome site for Cards fans.
Per State of Louisville’s Jake Hook, “versatile is the best way to describe Traore’s game. He rebounds extremely well for his size; which will allow him to play 3-4 next season. He’s also a great playmaker, an incredible defender; thanks to his length, and he’s extremely dangerous in transition.
“Traore reminds me of a less skilled Pascal Siakam. The only real knock on Traore’s game is that he can’t shoot a lick. Traore shot 84% of his shots at the rim, so you will RARELY ever see him take anything that isn’t a layup or dunk.”
See the full breakdown of transfers to watch out for in the portal here.
“On top of being a statistical outlier, Aboubacar Traore is a wiry and lengthy wing/forward with a high motor who possesses elite speed and is extremely fluid on/off the ball,” said Marceo Baller of SB Nation’s Mid Major Madness. “Being a freak athlete, Aboubacar shined in the open court, but his production in almost every department is simply astonishing and exceeds the usual glue-guy projection.
“Twelve double-doubles and a triple-double in the Big West quarterfinals define his ascendency and versatility.”
Baller dove into what Makes Traore special on the defensive end, and how he turns defense into offense.
“Watching Traore’s defensive film, you realize the magnitude of the prospect and why he could get a chance to play at the highest level in the near future. The intersection of elite athleticism, substantial wingspan, quick feet and defensive instincts is simply too appealing to be ignored.
He displays his tremendous versatility at every chance: on point-of-attack, switching on screens, facing bigger opponents down low, and contesting shots at the rim.
In short, Traore is a coach’s dream as a help defender but is still a bit all over the place since most of his defensive possessions are about covering ground in a hurry and closing out spot-up attempts. He is tremendously active in gaps and provides a sort of invaluable safety net for his teammates. He’s a big reason The Beach ranked 50th in steals and 63rd in blocks for the year.”
Check out the full breakdown of his game from SB Nation here.
Most importantly, Traore fits the identity of this Kelsey-assembled roster.
He is a versatile offensive playmaker, high-level defender, and across-the-board stat-stuffer.
If Traore develops a semblance of an outside shot, he could become of the best players on this Louisville basketball roster with an outside chance of making it to the league at season’s end.
Cote d’ivoire is how you spell the country he is from