Bilal Coulibaly's Explosive Start to the 2024-25 Season: A Breakout Performance

At the beginning of the 2024-25 NBA season, one player who stands out for making significant improvements is Bilal Coulibaly, the forward for the Washington Wizards.

Coulibaly, who was selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, has taken his game to new heights in the first two weeks of the regular season.

Coulibaly is coming off an impressive performance in the 118-98 loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday, racking up 22 points (8-12 FG), eight rebounds and two assists. Prior to that, he had a career-high 27 points in the win over the Atlanta Hawks. He also notched nine rebounds, three steals and a block in the win. Those two games are just the tip of the iceberg on what has been an impressive start to the season for Coulibaly.

Through five appearances and 34 minutes per game this season, Coulibaly is averaging 19.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Every single statistical figure is up — except the blocks-per-game category, though that can be explained by his new role.

Coulibaly is now playing at shooting guard instead of in the frontcourt, and having players such as Alex Sarr and Jonas Valančiūnas as rim protectors will mitigate some of Coulibaly’s responsibilities on the defensive end. 

As a comparison, Coulibaly averaged 8.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game as a rookie.

Perhaps the biggest area in which Coulibaly has grown is not in the numbers per game, but in his efficiency. He shot 43.5% from the field as a rookie, and even though five games isn’t enough of a sample size to draw heavy conclusions, that number is up to 60.7% in 2024-25. His 3-point shooting is also up — from 34.6% as a rookie to 47.6% in the current campaign. Coulibaly is reaching these numbers by putting up a decent volume of shots as well at 11.2 field goals per game, including 4.2 from beyond the arc. This isn’t a case in which a player is posting above-average numbers on limited touches.

Coulibaly seems to be the real deal for the Wizards. Even though the jury is still out on Alex Sarr, Coulibaly seems to be the first real building block the franchise has in the current roster. It’s unclear if he’s going to be able to sustain this pace over the course of an entire season, but Coulibaly’s start to the season has been extremely encouraging.