Magic 8 Ballers: Ben Saraf, Done That
For this edition of Magic 8 Ballers, Rowan Kent checks in on one of the most intriguing point guards in the 2025 NBA Draft class: Ben Saraf!
With most basketball seasons either wrapping up or entering their playoff pushes, the dust is finally starting to settle before official draft season. The earliest benchmark is the early entrant list for the NBA, where any player who wants draft consideration needs to officially place their name into limbo. While prospects can still return to their respective teams before the late May deadline, this first step rings in draft season in earnest.
Although many essential scouting steps are still to come, much evidence is already available on top prospects. Hundreds of possessions this year, hundreds more from years before, and smaller scouting events have given evaluators troves of data points for most players. Of course, some players always surprise and rocket up draft boards, but there are vastly more players who have risen already and are looking to maintain their perch.
The predraft process is a bit murkier for players outside of college basketball. The level of competition is heavily scrutinized compared to college basketball, the role size is looked at through a different lens, and any misstep can be magnified to spin draft stock. That serves as a blessing and a curse, as the allure and mystery of an international draft prospect can work in their favor just as much as it can hinder their rise.
The trajectory for Ben Saraf has been pointing upwards for over a year. Last summer, he burst onto the scene with a standout FIBA U18 performance before turning in a productive season at notable young player powerhouse Ratiopharm Ulm. With the NBA draft just two months away, I peered into my Magic 8 Ball to see what’s been behind the rise and sustained buzz for one of the draft’s more intriguing point guards.
Quick Shakes of the 8 Ball
For most, Ben Saraf has been introducing himself to the world with aplomb over the past calendar year. He’s parlayed his marvelous showing as a top-creating option on a winning team at the youth international level into a similar, although understandably diminished role at Ulm. Looking back, however, Saraf has been meeting the moment time and time again in his on-ball role to be in the position he is now.
Saraf burst onto the scene at 16 when he started his career in Israel’s second-tier basketball league. Being a double-digit scorer in any professional league is impressive, but doing so at his age is noteworthy. Saraf spent just a season in the Israeli Basketball National League before signing with Elitzur Kiryat Ata in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, where he was once again a double-digit scorer before turning eighteen.
The scoring, while impressive as a teenager, isn’t the only part of Saraf’s game that’s drawn him attention so far. He’s a true lead guard at 6’7” and can use his size to get advantages going downhill to score and create for others. Saraf’s vision, timing, and audacity on his passes have transformed him from being a tall scoring wing into a player who could theoretically lead an offense at higher levels.
But back to the scoring, because it’s too notable to ignore. Ben Saraf has been a certified bucket at the junior national level, across the FIBA U16 European Championship and U18 EuroBasket. He led both tournaments in scoring per game, with 24.3 points per game at the U16 level and an eye-popping 28.1 points per game at the U18 level last summer, where he guided Israel to a surprising fourth-place finish.
Here, I got my first proper introduction to Saraf’s game, as I found myself tuning into more of his games than the likes of Nolan Traore, Noa Essengue, and Dame Sarr, to name a few. After his second-straight international demolition, Saraf shrewdly signed with Ratiopharm Ulm, where he could play alongside another heralded 2025 NBA draft prospect in Essengue and have the chance to play with the ball in his hands at a high level.
Play at a high level he has, as Ulm currently sits second in the Basketball Bundesliga standings. It’s a team sport, but Saraf’s presence as a point guard has directly impacted the team’s winning ways, even if he’s done so without his usual potent scoring touch. Instead, on a team chock-full of vets, Saraf has masterfully fit into his role, set himself up for present success, and given NBA teams a future blueprint of how to scale his offense to fit into a team concept.
Occult Offense
Most of this Magic 8 Ballers article will focus on Ben Saraf’s offense, both because it’s the driver behind his rise on draft boards and where he’ll earn his keep in the NBA. His defense is crucial for his transition, too, especially from the perimeter, but the buzz around Saraf comes from what he can do for an offense. When you dig into his game, there’s a lot that he can do, mainly with the ball in his hands.
To start, let’s cut through the noise and look at who Ben Saraf is as a player: at 6’7” and roughly 200 pounds, Saraf is built like a modern wing. With reports of a slightly plus wingspan, solid athletic measurements, and good reflexes, Saraf will fit into the NBA as an above-average athlete. However, instead of playing like a wing, Saraf is a star with the ball in his hands, especially when he gets a head of steam.
Point guard is arguably the toughest position to play at the next level, but like any position in basketball, height can be a great multiplier. Taller players with lesser point guard skills who play point guard often get extra leeway and time to learn based on their physical abilities. Great point guards with extra height and size also have higher upside, like Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham, although they are the higher-end upside outcomes.
When dissecting Ben Saraf’s game, there’s a smorgasbord to choose from. Excelling in transition is a necessity for the modern NBA player, but Saraf already looks like a dangerous weapon for a team to add to their roster. His speed won’t stand out in the NBA, but he has enough speed to build momentum. Once he gets moving in transition, Saraf is a terror to try to contain. Per Synergy, Saraf shot 61.5% in transition on two-pointers and was also a generous and shrewd passer for interior looks and transition bombs from deep.
Being an NBA point guard is barely about running the show on the fast break; however, to stick in the league, it’s all about the halfcourt. Luckily, although he’s not perfect there by any means, Saraf’s had few hiccups in scaling up how he runs an offense at the Bundesliga level. Saraf’s 1.47 assist-to-turnover ratio might not look the best on the stat sheet, but he’s processing the game at a high level when you watch the film.
Saraf’s ability to dissect a defense comes from his willingness and ability to hit any pass he needs on the floor. His height helps him see angles that shorter point guards can’t, but he also has great timing and touch on his passes. Saraf can use either hand to bounce in a properly spun pass on a cut or put the right amount of speed on a skip to the corner into the shooter’s pocket, all without batting an eye.
These types of passes are the ones that Saraf can flex even when playing off-ball. That’s because they mostly come against a defense already in rotation, so Saraf’s picking apart a team already scrambling. A savvy NBA team will play Saraf at point from the moment he joins the squad, but a truly forward-thinking organization will also empower him to develop how he can be an effective connector off the ball.
When Saraf has the ball in his hands, he’s at best orchestrating a pick-and-roll for his team. While the 2025 NBA draft class is chock-full of great guards, I’d hazard putting Saraf among the best ball-handlers when working off a screen. Not only does his height make him so good, but Saraf also has the right blend of coy attacking, delayed passing, and pinpoint accuracy to make passing windows appear out of thin air for his rolling big men.
If there’s a place to nitpick Ben Saraf’s passing, it’s when he tries to force the action. It’s one thing to create a great window for a cutter or roller with his height, but it’s another for the many times Saraf simply wanted that window to appear and tried to zing the ball to his teammate with too much sauce. I’d hate for Saraf’s innate flair and creativity to get dampened by not trying to make these sorts of passes, but I’d hope he gets a tish more judicious as he grows in his role.
Aside from his passing, Saraf could also work to get a tighter handle in the halfcourt. He’s a skilled dribbler who can use pace to his advantage when attacking, but he’s too keen to attack a thin window and get stripped. Again, I’m not advocating for Saraf to stop his creative prodding of the defense. I’d instead like to see him not wildly drive toward doubles or lose focus on his dribble to give up an easy two to the other team.
Qualm aside, watching Saraf’s playmaking to his Ratiopharm Ulm teammates is beautiful. Given the extra geometric space he'll have to work with, it’s just as beautiful to imagine what he can do with a more athletic lob threat at the next level. From a passing perspective, Saraf is built like a modern NBA point guard and has the distributing chops to back it up.
However, you need to be a skilled scorer to be a modern NBA point guard. We’re long past the days of a sole distributor on an NBA squad with how smart defenses are about exploiting weaknesses. That’s where Saraf has more holes in his game, although he’s nowhere close to the danger zone of being a bad scorer/great scorer. Instead, Saraf is simply further behind in that development than he is as a passer.
I’ll start with Saraf’s finishing because it’s simpler to evaluate than his shooting. With his height and first step, Saraf is a solid driver for his age and archetype. He’s balanced when flying toward the hoop, can elevate off one or two feet, and knows when to attack versus pulling back his dribble. It won’t happen as often at the NBA level, but Saraf expertly uses a screen at least once a game and bursts downhill with no one close enough to stop him.
While not as impressive as his tape with Israel’s U18 team this summer, Saraf has also shown he has the shake in isolation situations to make opponents pay. As a ball-handler, one-on-one scoring will separate Saraf from stardom, but he’s put enough on tape that I’m leaving the door open for him to one day get there. That’s not an endorsement of Saraf becoming a star at the NBA level. Instead, it’s an honest assessment that, due to his promising flashes, there are some worlds where it happens.
If you were to look purely at Saraf’s Synergy numbers in these types of plays, none of them would blow you away. He’s shooting 44.4% as a pick-and-roll ball-handler from two-point range, 40.7% on isolations from two, and 42.3% on two-point spot-up shots. Even his gaudy cutting numbers from two-point range are misleading, as he’s shot 76.5% on those but only on 17 total attempts.
The biggest obstacle for Saraf as a finisher is how he deals with contact. He’s not afraid of driving into taller defenders at the hoop, but maybe he should be. There were too many times this season at Ulm that Saraf attacked and found himself turned away by a block or simply by a contest with contact. Strengthening his frame to finish better through the inevitable contact in his future is the best way for Saraf to improve his finishing craft.
Seeing Saraf’s athleticism when heading to the rim is a more heartening watch. Unlike other guards who lack vertical pop, while Saraf isn’t the highest flier, he does have enough pep in his step to throw down some easy dunks. This general baseline athleticism indicates that he still has room to grow as a finisher, including improved finishing through contact.
I feel like I’m writing this for the thousandth time this cycle, but as has been the case for several other prospects I’ve written about, the swing skill for Ben Saraf is his shooting. Saraf comes in ahead of some of the other prospects I’ve profiled for Magic 8 Ballers and has just enough volume to start making some firm judgments, but he’s still a developing shooter.
From a form perspective, Saraf is a bit of a messy shooter. He’s rarely on balance due to firing off the dribble, taking many step-backs and side-step shots, and has a funky release point above his head. Saraf also leads with his left foot, which, as a left-handed shooter, gets him into stickier situations with spacing. Despite these quibbles, Saraf has a high and quick release point that helps him get his shot off over other players.
At this juncture, Saraf is a solid spot-up shooter. It was rare for him to receive the ball instead of passing it to a waiting shooter on the wings, but Saraf did take 54 catch-and-shoot three-pointers this season for Ratiopharm Ulm. He canned 38.9% of them and showed off a more fluid shooting form. It’s encouraging to see the freedom and calmness that Saraf has as a shooter, given that it’s not as clear when taking other jumpers.
Where the jury (me) is still hung on Ben Saraf’s shooting, is his pull-up game. If you go purely by Synergy’s numbers, Saraf profiles as a middling shooter in this area. He’s only hit 8/49 pull-up three-pointers this season, a stark difference from his spot-up numbers, which speaks to his lack of balance on this type of shot. It’ll limit Saraf’s ceiling as a point guard if he can’t start to hit more of these looks in the flow of the offense.
As a mid-range shooter, however, it’s a more complex story. Saraf has taken 110 mid-range dribble mid-range jump shots this season, a gargantuan number, and hit them at a 40.9% clip. That’s fair efficiency for the difficulty on these shots, as Saraf is showing off his isolation scoring ability in one-on-one situations. I’m much more encouraged by his mid-range shooting, based on this year and his FIBA tape, than by his pull-up from deep.
Given that Saraf has shown the ability to hit jumpers off the bounce, it’s fair to wonder whether he can start to do that from a deeper range with more work on his jump shot. It would be a major boon for Saraf to add that element, as he’d be more in line with the Doncic/Cunningham archetype I mentioned. However, even if he doesn’t, Saraf still has enough juice on offense to be worth not only a first-round pick, but a team’s future point guard position.
Inside Scoring Package: Signs Point to Yes
Outside Scoring Package: Ask Again Later
Passing/Ball-Handling Package: You May Rely on It
Defensive Divination
This section is shorter than Saraf’s offensive breakdown, mostly because his tape on the offensive end is what’s most important for his NBA future, but this side of the ball is also crucial. From an anecdotal perspective, larger guards like Doncic, Cunningham, and LaMelo Ball often carry the lion’s share of an offensive burden before giving it back with worse defense. Thus, while it’s not a major problem if Saraf isn’t a good defender, it would help his NBA future if he is—especially if he doesn’t reach the star heights on offense that he’s less likely to reach.
Saraf is as smart a player on defense as he is on offense, although he isn’t a good defender in my eyes. He’s perfectly suitable at times, able to use his quick hands to generate steals and fast break opportunities, but he’s a bit of a gambler for these. While they look great on tape, there were just as many times that Saraf gambled and fouled that he snagged a steal, even though his hands are the best attribute of his defense.
As an on-ball defender, Saraf has no clear consensus on his defense. That puts him in the below-average camp, mostly because he lacks the consistency on his positive reps to consider him dependable. When Saraf moves his feet and stays engaged, he can smother smaller guards. He’s hard to finish over at 6’7” and can contest stepback shots without much effort.
On the other hand, staying attached is difficult for Saraf. He opens his hips too often on the perimeter, leaving him vulnerable to changes in direction. He’s prone to lunging at the ball and getting blown by, which strains the rest of his defense. Despite his previous positive positioning, Saraf is also poor at getting over screens, often running right into them and putting his defense on the back foot.
Smart NBA teams will continue to test Ben Saraf as an on-ball defender, which means it will be trial by fire for his rookie season. It will hurt the product on the court, but a smart team that drafts him will let him work out the kinks or reduce his minutes to show the importance of defense. Given that Saraf is unlikely to hit his star ceiling on offense, he must improve his perimeter defense, as he won’t have the same leeway as others.
His off-ball defense is a bit better because Saraf has more cushion to contest shots and actions due to his size. Saraf is smart enough to position himself to cut off cuts, while also having good reflexes and horizontal quickness to close out to shooters on the perimeter. In the same way, he can contest on-ball. Saraf’s contests, when in control, are effective due to his wingspan.
Once again, “in control” is the operative term here. Saraf is still susceptible to clever pump fakes, which leads him to fly by. He’s also sometimes a ball-watcher, which leads to open shots or poor closeouts for drives. If it sounds like Saraf’s defense is full of contradictions, you’re right, which is what’s frustrating to watch as a fan and an evaluator.
Saraf’s defensive ceiling is higher than that of other guards due to his size, but he’s currently showing a bit of a lower floor due to his lack of consistency. Given his struggles, I’m still out on whether he could become a good defender, but NBA teams will be clearly monitoring how he does in workouts and scrimmages leading up to the draft to get a better gauge on his ultimate upside in that area.
Perimeter Defense: Cannot Predict Now
Interior Defense: Better Not Tell You Now
Team Tasseography
It’s instructive to view Ben Saraf in both team contexts that he’s starred in to boost his draft stock. The FIBA U18 tape that he’s shown is just as important to consider as his Ratiopharm Ulm tape, both because of the stellar showings and to demonstrate how developmental can be both positive and non-linear for a draft prospect.
Most prospects need to sustain their draft buzz with a constant upward trajectory. A hiccup, or even a perceived one, can be an iceberg in a prospect’s titanic-like draft stock. That’s why, to outside observers, it may seem like a worrisome case that Saraf went from being a standout offensive star for Israel to part of a team concept at Ratiopharm Ulm.
Ratiopharm Ulm has been on an upswing in recent years regarding developing prospects overseas. Outside of KK Megabasket, which is also a factory for players, Ulm has cemented itself as both a competitive club at the Bundesliga level and an incubator for talented prospects looking to reach the NBA. Killian Hayes, Pacome Dadiet, and Juan Núñez have all been drafted over the past few seasons, with both Saraf and Noa Essengue looking like they’re up next.
It’s worth noting that, while known as a developmental hub, Ulm has a drastically different roster construction strategy than, say, G-League Ignite. Saraf is the starter at point guard, but he’s flanked by former NBA draft picks Justinian Jessup and Isaiah Roby, alongside veteran starters Marcio Santos and Karim Jallow. Essengue, due to his raw presence, comes off the bench, but neither he nor Saraf is the only straw that stirs the drink.
I view that as a positive for Saraf’s game, given its scalable nature. It would be positive to see him in an on-ball role that lets him dominate possessions and scoring, but it wouldn’t show how he’ll likely fit in at the NBA level. Again, barring a massive developmental jump as a shooter or on defense, Saraf isn’t slated to hit his star ceiling as soon as teams may hope.
Instead, he’s shown something much more valuable: a consistent positive role for a winner. Ulm has been having a great season in the Bundesliga, and Saraf is a big reason for this. He’s run their offense without taking it over, helping his teammates get into their spots and have productive seasons. Compared to what he did for Israel, this role is much more akin to his NBA future.
The Final Shake
Compared to other prospects who think they’ve been there and done that, Ben Saraf is a player who has achieved highly at every step in his journey. Although the steps have looked different, whether or not his team has needed him to be a star, Saraf’s quality play on offense has made him a safe bet to be selected in the first round. However, what he does after that is up to his own improvements.
If Saraf can become a more consistent and dangerous shooter, it’s easier to project him as a potential star. It would take a team committed to letting him play through his mistakes and having a roster similarly constructed to the harmony found at Ratiopharm Ulm, but that future is at least possible.
On the other hand, if Ben Saraf is asked to play on the wing and then relied upon to pick up wings on defense, he will struggle. He’ll still have a solid degree of success, but his best attributes won’t be highlighted properly. He’ll likely do well enough to play a role off the bench, but his passing won’t get to unlock a team in the same way it could if he got to handle the ball.
That’s where context becomes most important at the NBA level. Saraf’s on track for success at the next level, but to what degree depends on his development and his starting home. Given he’s been here, there, and everywhere, while starring at each stop, it’s not outlandish to see Saraf have a more fruitful early career than other first round picks.
He is so good , I think he is so underrated and need to be 10-15 pick