Maxime Raynaud

Raynaud was born and raised in Paris, France before joining Stanford's hoops program. After a reserve role as a freshman, Raynaud earned a starting spot as a sophomore. He continued to improve each year, transforming into one of the Cardinals' best players as a junior, earning Second-Team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 Most Improved Player honors. Stanford fired head coach Jerod Haase after Raynaud's junior season, which caused the big man to enter the transfer portal. He ultimately opted to return and performed like a superstar as a senior, taking home First-Team All-ACC honors and the Skip Prosser Award (top scholar-athlete in ACC) - 2024-25 was Stanford's inaugural season in the ACC. Raynaud averaged 20 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.4 blocks and 0.9 steals during his final collegiate campaign. He posted excellent shooting splits for a big man (47/35/77) on 16.1 field-goal attempts, 5.5 three-point tries and 4.2 free-throw trips per game. Raynaud is incredibly skilled for his size, showcasing the ability to post-up, face-up, shoot and attack poor closeouts. He can finish with both hands and uses his footwork to navigate traffic in the paint. Raynaud loves to operate as an offensive hub, finding backdoor cutters or shooters in the corners when too many defensive eyes are on him, but his assist numbers weren't prolific in college. He isn't a natural playmaker but is willing to find the open guy, often with a dramatic flair. Raynaud's intensity on the court was also notable, but it'll be interesting to see if that continues when he doesn't have the ball as much as a pro. The big man was productive defensively at Stanford, but his ability to guard the perimeter will have to improve at the next level, especially since his offensive profile suggests he'll have to play more forward than center in the NBA. Frank Kaminsky (7'0, 240) is the easiest comp to make when watching Raynaud. Both players took time to develop in college before dominating the competition as upperclassmen. Kaminsky's NBA career left a lot to be desired after being a lottery pick, but he still played for eight years. Kelly Olynyk (6'11, 240) and Zach Collins (6'11, 249) have similar offensive games to Kaminsky and Raynaud, but they've had better careers than Kaminsky because of their ability to play and, more importantly, guard forwards. Kyle Filipowski (6'11, 250) was a second-round pick in 2024 and played 72 games (27 starts) for the Jazz as a rookie. There's certainly a blueprint for a player of Raynaud's skill and size to make it in the NBA, but he's far from a polished prospect and would likely need to land in an ideal fit to earn consistent playing time.