The Deep 3 Podcast - We Put International NBA Stars In A Tier List | TD3 Clips

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

tier listing 2025 NBA stars from around the world! #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're going to do a tier list. Specifically, we're going to do tier lists of the best international players in the NBA. We did this a couple years ago, but that was a couple years ago. A lot has changed since then. So I have a variety of international players to you from a variety of different places in the world. You know the NBA has the most international talent we've ever had. So I got 20 players from you right now. We're going to put them in a tier list, S through F.

Okay. So let's start off. Let's set the benchmark. Yana Satina Kumba. STS. Clear S tier, clear top three player in the world. There's too many words. Okay, never mind.

We'll keep talking about something. for Nicole Yolkich, no words. Just toss them in this year, keep moving? Yeah. Okay, I don't see. Oh, there's Nicole Yokic. Now, let's move to a different tier. What do you want to do with Pascal Seacom?

Huh. Whoa, why? I mean, according to you, that's the third best power forward in the league. Third best power forward in the league, but when it comes to international players, I think he might be, it depends on how we're valuing, like, this right now. I think he might be, A or B, probably, like, back, half a hell not

probably back half a half a If we're being Stingy with S and we're only going to include like the best of the best

I think Siakum is clearly B if you want to be stingy with S then okay then he's B yeah it depends

where you want to put Luka and Embed yeah that's the next tier there's more stars that aren't top three players

in the world right now aren't like champion solidified legends that there's probably going to be some like you know top 15 players

in a B for an all star that has a pretty goddamn good resume for being a second star for teams

A champion. Champion, made the finals again. That feels like beating me. Yeah, if Embedd and Luca might be A, then for sure he's a tier below those guys. Franz Wagner. Right now, again, all-star caliber, but he's a step below Pascal right now. I'm going to see. I think he's like, he's low-key as good as Pascal, but the accomplishments are night and day that you can't put him in the same tier.

Exactly. So, yeah. His game is still pending, though. It's not complete just yet. So I think it should better not be complete. That three-form better be developed. still yeah okay we can go see you know sees like all-star level still putting it together or just low all-star level for whatever person that feels good to me r j barrett f

see don't do argue like this i think he's had some moments he he is a legitimate NBA player these are all NBA players you just say the most baseline competency to be on the list that does not bode well for the argument against f he's a good starter though he's he can start he's a fine he's an average starter i think And for that reason, we got to put him in D, not F. Yeah, he's D, not F. Because there's, I already see some guys here that are below him. Okay.

You know, that'll be a debate. But we'll get to that. Evita Zubatz. D, probably. Are you insane? Listen, if he's good as Franz Wagner. I'm sorry, my bad. I'm sorry, I almost learned him.

Something almost happened. Is he as good as, I'm thinking, he's like, all-starry. Way closer to Franz than he is to R.J. Barrett. He got, I was thinking he's going to be top, top tier. Oh, yeah, I'm thinking, get the fuck out my face. He is C tier. Okay. Way closer to Franz than he is to RJ Barrett.

We haven't done our center ranking yet. I think they're damn here in between, but okay. Did you say, you want to put RJ Bird and F? No. No, no, no, I mean, I said at first joking, but no, I don't think he's F. Okay. Yeah, but, I mean, Franz is better, but I feel like, you know what? The Franz ain't better might just be ball handler by.

Zubach was All-Star level last year was top-5 D-P-O-Y conversations at times was one of the better offensive players in terms of complimentary bigs with guards

like he really checks all the boxes like I'm not if Franz is like just below All-Star I have no problem seeing Zubash is just as good Okay, I see

that's fair Christoph Sforzingis It depends I mean at this point D-tier I'd certainly rather have Zubatch certainly rather have Franz Yeah he might be D-Tier

but assuming like he's healthy he is naturally, I can see you. That's a lot of assumption. Assuming something happens that's never happened before, then yeah, we'll put him in C.

But no, in terms of abilities, he's probably closer than to RJ, but I guess just for the practicality of it, you can put him in the top of D? Sure, fine. I'm also not mad at putting him next to Zubatch

if y'all wanted to be optimistic. No, I don't want to be optimistic. I mean, never mind. Okay. I'd rather hate. Luca Donchich. Let's have their conversation. First playing.

It's here. No conversation. First player in 18. So are we Champions and MVP's get to BNS. Okay, so we're doing like resume is a difference? Because you know, like,

we're going to be other names that we think are better than Siakum and we're going to be like, no way, or they're putting them in the same combo as Luca. I mean, yeah, but also at the same time, like, if you,

okay, so like Luca does have an argument for top five, but he kind of got to, you got to get that, get that stamp back again. Yeah, when you say he lost his Stampas top five player. That means he's the sixth best player in the world.

And I feel like the other people in A are going to be quite a distance away from that. Seven best, who knows? But like, I think Luca Talon level is way closer to the guys that are going to be an S than the guys are going to be an A. Talon level, yeah, but we have to see it. I mean, he's made a finals. It's not like you're talking about some bum.

No, he's not a bum, but he's not, he hasn't won multiple. And every year, and the same thing is going to happen this year. Luke is going to be a top three MVP candidate coming into the season. we're all going to be like oh this is finally going to be the year where he gets the MVP he hasn't done it yet the other two guys have multiple MVP and they have chips i think it's easy conversation fair enough i just want to say because like you know sometimes we'll do it based on their ability sometimes it'll be resume like you know i know exactly what you're hinting towards it's kind of awkward there in that way yeah look he'll keep it going jamal murray see that's seat here probably it's hard those guys are better than jemal i think but he's within striking distance and he has the playout resume he rises yes he's in the best Team 4 impossible, but that's not his fault. He plays about as well as you want him to most years. He does his job, yeah, for the most part. I think you seat here for sure. Back to

C tier. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, like I don't hit his watcher pretty close. No, C tier. Yeah, he is quintessential C tier. Rudy Gobert. Is he B? That's a fucking four-time DPOI. Sounds like he belongs to B.B. It has to be B. That's why I wanted

to Palooka S because I feel like he has to be A. I mean, I guess Seacom's a champion, but the 2019 thing's a little different. He didn't make a final once again this year. Rudy Gobert has been a linchpin of two straight conference finals teams for DPO-wise, one of the best defenders of all time, like... I think he deserves to be B for sure. Certainly.

That feels to me like A, whereas Luca should be S. Luca is not... No, I don't think we should put Luca in S-tier yet. Hmm. But we can put Rudy Gaubert at the top of B. Okay. I'm not going to be over here arguing for Gilbert for 10 minutes, but I feel like he's more accomplished and better than Seacom.

If you can show me 30 seconds of him doing drop steps Oh my God Successfully What does that have to do with anything? Not a damn thing I will put him in A2 Okay Lou Dort

Champion Lou Dort First team all D D Lou Dort Clamps I love that for Lou Dort Yeah put him and beat you No Like Loki does that deserve C

Yeah I don't think it He played a factor in the championship Obviously He's first team all D Like that matters he's one of the best defenders in the world and he's a champion

I think he belongs in C I think he belongs to C So we're putting him in C not D Yeah Okay there we go So he's getting crowded Alprin Sangoon Very weird placing for him right now

Dang it my bad Lou Dort Might have to drop you Yeah I have to put you at the top of D Yeah Lou Dord D Because Alperin Sengoon That's put him right next to Franz Wagner He's on a better team

More accomplishing Franz but I think in terms of like their skill level they're very comparable to me yeah okay like singoon got the all-star nod because he wasn't a two-seat best player cool if st gung was there i mean if if franz was in that place i think he would also be i don't know i think i think we need to make a quick revision i think luka probably needs to be s tier look us for sure needs to be s tier yeah i've been thinking about this and the whole entire time i was really quiet just really thinking about how we're organizing this he needs to be us dear sometimes these conversations get commandeered you guys make it way too much our resume in terms of how

good as player is this is 2025 players resume is not this isn't an all-time combo yeah Luca is S-tier in terms of abilities let's put him S-tier let's put him S-tier don't know any comments

I mean I'm my vote so it doesn't matter okay you know why Victor Womeniama he deserves to be an A-T because there's a clear gap between Rudy and Tiacom you can't put

Rue and be an S-tier too so exactly he cannot be with the MVP's with the top five players in the world yet he can't be next to Rudy Gaubert he is super Gaubert A tier is a perfect place for Victor Muban Yama Super Hoover, nice

Why can't a top five player be with the top of the top of- You did you give him that already? No, why can't that happen? He's a top-ten player, that's for sure. DeMontes a bonus. Probably see. Right next to San Goon? Yeah, probably like the best to see, I guess.

Put him behind Zubach. Yeah, and people are mad about that. Some people will consider him to be the most underrated player in the NBA and all this guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People would think we should have put him in B. Point three bounds assist? Goon.

Awesome. 40% from three? Oh, my God. Point six attempts a game. Awesome. That's what I'm saying. Take his more on price picks, but outside of that, I don't care. Very hard to win with.

The defense is always going to be something that he struggles with. Isn't going to elevate your team. It's pretty goddamn important to have an elevator defensively at center. Unless you're Nicola Yolkates and you're the best player we've ever seen offensively. Hard to win with him. I think C is fine. Yeah. Lowry Markinen.

We got a lot of Cs today. Where it's raining C's Yeah Which Loki makes me think We should move the guys Indeed onto F and split up C tier maybe I don't know

I don't know Because F is about to get Some residents Yeah Okay so listen Live marketing C tier He's next to the other guys That are all-star level

Not the best player in your team Or if he is your team's not very good Or maybe you have a great team That's well-rounded Like Sengoon's team But you know Maybe we should move Sengoon up to B He was an all-star

this year. Something that none of these guys could say. I started like Larry Mark and if you want to salute him, cool. But I think he's just as good as Lowry and. I think so too. I'm fine. I'm fine with you going to see. Yeah. I mean, shout out him. He's on a really good team and doing his part. But like, again, these other guys, a lot of them, the Rockets would still be a really good team if you swap them in. Okay.

Joel Embed. That's here. When you think about international basketball, he is in the same breath as Janus, Yolkits, and Luca. He's an MVP. The only thing, well, so are we aging off like now he his his body's cooked are we ever going to see him be at that level again to be an MVP level do we feel good about that like even if he's healthy for 40 games next year do we feel like he even has the same ceiling with his leg problems no it's probably going to be a notch below it's probably be closer to wendy i don't know i'd rather i think we do know loki

i'd feel there was a report that came out earlier a couple days ago and it was some random doctor saying yeah i have really worries and i i listen wemby isn't exactly an insult i think we do know that he's probably closer to the back half of the top 10 players in the world now than the top three guys that are like he would be the worst in s tier for sure so yeah i can put him ahead of and just because obviously if this was two years ago you can't if this is two years ago obviously joel and b would be neck and neck with yonis neck and neck with yokech all these guys it's just the legs are deteriorating i don't think we're ever going to see a long stretch again where he's averaging 36 points your game being one the best scores of all time yeah yeah

yeah that's up the yeah that's up the window at this point the good old days on a round Don't make me cry Dylan Brooks F tier F tier I'm sorry No he's indeed He's a very useful player Dylan Bruce is better than RJ Barrett

Pretty easily Yeah I'd rather have Dylan Brooks on my team For sure That's an interesting debate I don't think it is It's simple Dilbert's a legit good defender I can shoot

Yeah he's like a worst version of Lou Dort But I think he's He's not even that much worse He's not even that much worse Yeah same level of player Same level of player But like Luford is

worse defense That's what I'm a little bit worse I'm not hating on door. I'm just like, Doris is a level above Dylan Brooks. I guess, I suppose. Whatever that means.

Well, like their levels are pretty damn close. When it comes to the archetypes, sure. I'd rather have Dorit. Yeah, a little more, I was going to say

a little more consistent of a shooter. That's a crazy thing to say. This is a nasty debate, but they're close. They're both spot up threes. The only thing about Dylan Brooks that does kill it for me is his tendencies to do like

who killing basketball and kind of shoot you out the game here and there. Lou Dort does not do that. He knows where he lies. I feel like that's a little bit overstated. Houston Rockets fans would disagree with that. I don't, true.

Listen, you got to give him a few. It's like Marcus Smart. You got to give him a few to calm down. That is true. Got to let him eat too. It's like back in the 2000s. Got thrown the big guy in touch. Keep him engaged.

Keep him engaged. Josh Giddy. F. F. Easy F. I keep going back to the RJ Barrett thing. I don't know if he's worse than Roger Barrett. I'd rather have R.J. Barrett than Josh Gitty.

If you wanted to build a championship level team and I put a gun to the back of your head and I said yo big between these two if you if you don't want a chip you're dying I'll sell the team you're dead I'm shooting you low key I might rather have giddy as a six man than RJ Barrett is my starting small forward see now why saw me something that I can't have why show me an FTA we're not going to put anybody in there because it's coming no that's crazy it's already here that is a forced ass a yeah it's already here is gonna put Josh giddy yeah fuck it okay okay I will gladly be outvoted on hating on Josh Gidey.

I won't stop you guys. Alexar. F2. There we go. That's the F tier I was waiting for. And listen, I think it'll be really good. I think we'll get there. I think he'll get to be D tier next to Chris Osporzingis.

Maybe C tier on his best day if he really, really develops offensively. But rookie year, he can be F tier. Okay. Shea Gildos Alexander. That is S tier above Luca Dodgich. Yep, yep. This is above. This is the second best player in the world.

I'm willing to say it now. I don't know if I can get there. Yeah, I just can't discount Yannis and the force that he is. But discounting Yonis, third best player in the world. It's not an insult. Yeah, I never said it was an insult, but I just can't get there just yet. But, again, you got it. It's just summer.

The more weeks that happen, the more days we are removed in the championship, I can get there. I will get there too far. I can get there. The more Kyle Kuzman minutes that I see, the more KPJ minutes that I see as well. I can get there. Okay. I like this tier list. Donovan, how do you feel about the Luca placement?

Does it feel better? No, but it's just so very clear that like all these other guys, the top three guys have the resume and they're at the peak of the power right now where Lucas, it feels like he's in his own limbo tier of like trying to restore that. Yeah, but that's like so, again, overstated though. We act like he was like horrible and like he's washed and is like, does he still got it? Because he had one iffy year coming off of injury.

Like, would you be shocked if he's back to being first female NBA next year? Nope. I will not be. Like, you're thinking about it. Come on. You should be shocked? She's going to have that a lot. For now.

Yeah, he, I'm not putting in that. Come on. Come on. I understand it, but I'm not doing it. Is there anybody in C when we're up to be? Because he's pretty fucking fat. Singoo. I would love to move up, Larry Marketing him, but he had a very forgettable year.

Yeah, we can move Sang-Gun if you want. People are in the comments are going to say, Put Sang-Gut and B. I would like saying-Gung to be in- Okay, I don't care. I mean, that's just like, because he was on a two-seed, fine. We don't respect wins.

We don't respect winning. I see. Gotta get the J-Len-Hurt talking points off. No, what's this is TD-3? This is not a house-call, bro. It's actually, like, it's actually kind of ridiculous.

We really gotta do it right now, but like, it is kind of wild. Wrong show, wrong channel. I love Joe, her's discourse. It bleeds into everything. It's not even about that. It's not even about that, but like... On this birthday, you're doing a little extra more.

Oh, yeah, this is the birthday. That's why it's on top of mind. Yeah, exactly. Does I respect it?