Almansa hoping to replicate Sarr's efforts at Wildcats

Almansa said he was proud of Sarr’s efforts as a Wildcat last season on the way to getting selected by Washington Wizards with pick No.2 in the NBA draft.

Sarr passed on some advice to the Spanish sensation, an old teammate of his at Real Madrid and Overtime Elite, after his signing.

“Yeah I’ve talked to him, he says it’s a tough league but that I’m ready for it,” Alamansa said.

“I’m proud of him too and just happy to be here.

“I’m excited and I think that I can do kind of like the same as what he did (for the Wildcats).”

The 19-year-old, described as the most successful youth player in history, has an incredible basketball resume.

The 208cm power forward/centre was named MVP of both the Under-19 and Under-17 FIBA World Cups in 2023 and 2022 respectively, as well as the best player in last year’s Under-18 FIBA European Championships.

The highly-rated 2025 NBA Draft prospect finished as Spain’s leading points scorer and rebounder in last month's U20 Eurobasket tournament in Poland, averaging 15.7 and 6.9 across his seven appearances.

"It was a good tournament, I played good and got my confidence back," Almansa said.

"Now I'm happy to be here and ready to play."

The NBL's first ever Spanish Next Star touched down in Perth on Thursday night and was welcomed by head coach John Rillie and assistant coach Aaron Young.

As for what he was looking forward to most about playing for the Wildcats?

"To play at the (RAC) Arena and play in front of a lot of fans and try to compete for a championship," Almansa said.

"It's a really competitive league and last year the Wildcats made it through to the semi-finals."