Scouting Snapshot: Is Joan Beringer a Top 20 Pick in 2025 NBA Draft?

Standing at 6-foot-11 barefoot, with a 7-foot-4.25 wingspan and a 9-foot-3 standing reach, Joan Beringer is the third youngest prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft.

According to Rookie Scale's consensus big board, he is slotted at the 24th pick but some major publications like ESPN have placed him in the lottery.

Is the hype real or is this another case of a young foreign prospect being overvalued? Let's take a look: Beringer may not wow with flashy dribble moves or shooting, but what he does have is the measurables, tools and production for age to have an extremely functional rim-running game in the NBA.

At just 17 years old a year ago, Beringer dominated both FIBA U18s and Espoirs with uber efficiency from inside the arc and high rebounding rates.

This is a functional application of Beringer's massive reach, length and vertical explosion.

These traits enable him to bring vertical gravity whether that's as a roller or dunker spot finisher.

This past season, Beringer continued his vertical excellence at Cedevita Olimpija of the ABA League.

While he has been impactful in the low usage rim running role, Beringer has also shown sparse flashes of putting the ball on the floor and attacking in a straight line.

This could be an effective counter for him long term as a DHO big or in general 5-out spacing where he can take opposing bigs off the dribble.

His ability to decelerate at his size is quite unique.

The touch and passing need more work but there are some enticing moments on tape.

Regardless, the touch and passing limitations will not affect his floor as an NBA player.

Defensively, Beringer creates most of his value on this end.

He is an effective shot blocker (8.1% block percentage) with his massive reach and his fantastic ability to target the ball on shot attempts.

He can be a tad jumpy at times as a shot blocker but this is a flaw that is prevalent in most bigs this age.

Additionally, Joan Beringer can guard out in space despite his large stature.

He can flip his hips, move his feet quickly and has the general length to contain ball handlers on an island.

Beringer is also adept at backtracking which allows him defend drivers well.

There is more he needs to develop with his positioning, especially when it comes to contesting perimeter shots but the deceleration he's shown on offense could lend itself in defending closeouts more effectively.

For his age, he's shown an advanced understanding of how to guard pick and rolls, and he's got the recovery tools to get back into plays when he is beat.

While a rim running big that can guard in drop and space might seem like a boring pick to many, the functionality of Beringer's size and tools make his production quite translatable.

In fact, his intersection of event creation alongside his reach and vertical athleticism has only been achieved by a small group of players.

Since the 2000 NBA Draft, only four players have recorded a standing reach over 110 inches, a max vertical above 35 inches, a block rate above 6%, and a steal rate over 1.2%: Daniel Gafford, Derrick Favors, Nic Claxton, and Joan Beringer.

Yves Missi barely misses this query with a 109.5 standing reach and the caveat is that it can be noisy to compare college basketball block and steal rates to the ABA, but it forms the idea of how Beringer's rare intersection of measurables and defensive production form a real run way to translation in the NBA.

Considering the combination of tools, production for age and his ability to slide into NBA rosters seamlessly at the center position, Beringer would be a worthy bet for teams picking in the top 20 or even in the lottery itself.

Pairing him with a great lob passer or pick and roll operator would only make these outcomes for Beringer even more achievable.

Optimal Team Fits 1.

Atlanta Hawks 2.

Indiana Pacers 3.

Memphis Grizzlies.

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