Mark Padjen and Christian Anderson Jr. Impress at FIBA U19 World Cup

Last summer, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf made headlines with their high level of play in FIBA youth competitions. Saraf captured an MVP, and now both are teammates with the Brooklyn Nets after being selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft. Over the past week, the FIBA U19 World Cup has been underway and two guards had standout performances again.

Slovenian combo guard Mark Padjen filled up the stat sheet, particularly against a good German squad, where he finished with 23 points and five assists on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from deep. Standing at 6-foot-6, his combination of size and skill makes him a force to be reckoned with at the youth level.

Padjen turned 19 early this year and has spent most of his career playing in the SKL Slovenian League. This past season, he leaped to 9.6 points per game after averaging only three points per game the season prior. Padjen has a lot of options as he considers his next move. He could look to join a professional club like Ratiopharm Ulm or KK Mega Basket, both are proven at developing young talent. There is also expected to be a healthy amount of NIL interest in him, and that will only be accelerated by how well he has played at the World Cup. Expect to hear his name more throughout the season, and potentially even creep into 2026 Draft conversations.

On the other side of Padjen's big game vs Germany was Texas Tech sophomore Christian Anderson Jr. Smaller than Padjen, standing at roughly 6-foot-2, Anderson had a good freshmen season for Texas Tech where he averaged 10.6 points per game on 43/38/80 shooting splits and also posted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.2-to-1.

Anderson was born in Atlanta but has chosen to represent Germany at youth levels and opened up a lot of opportunities to showcase his skills. Against Slovenia, his ability to get downhill and finish through traffic really stood out. It's something Texas Tech and scouts will want to see more of from him. Anderson has proven himself a capable shooter but, as is the case with a lot of small guards coming into the NBA, there are questions about his ability to diversify his scoring profile and not be too much of a detriment on the defensive end.

If Anderson can show more interior scoring this season, as well as an improved level of comfort guarding up whenever possible, he could set himself on a good track for the 2026 NBA Draft. With NIL encouraging more players to come back for collegiate seasons, the back end of the first round and second round have weakened in quality, and with a strong season, Anderson could capitalize on openings there. Both he and Padjen will be interesting guard prospects to watch for the 2025-26 season.

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