Sergio De Larrea

PROFILE

Season review- May 2025
By Artau Pascual

Sergio De Larrea has worked his way back to Valencia's rotation after a shoulder subluxation that didn't require surgery. The 6'7 PG has gone through some major improvements compared to our last review, and he has already proven that his level of physicality and awareness belong to the highest European level. De Larrea has demonstrated that his floor is one of the safest in the age group.

De Larrea has had the most consistent shooting season in his life so far. He still has some margin to shorten the loading time for his spot-up shot and he can also speed up his off the dribble mechanics, but he already makes defenses pay if they close him out softly or go under against him. Shooting form looks solid and he doesn't hesitate to get the ball up. 

A remarkable improvement De Larrea has done in the last months is how he's handling the offense against aggressive pick&roll coverages. Compared to his own December version, De Larrea is now a lot better at keeping the dribbling angles alive and creating passing windows off live dribble when he heads to his non-dominant side. De Larrea still has some ways to go at changing the pace, height and direction of his dribble, but he has already made some strides that suggest that he will be able to afford these changes.

Season review- December 2024
By Artau Pascual

Excellent size for the PG spot. Standing at 6'7, Sergio de Larrea has taken a leap in the first months of competition with Valencia Basket. He found a place in the rotation by starting games and helping set the tone, and from there he has escalated and turned into a reliable ball-handler for a leading team in Eurocup and Liga Endesa. 

De Larrea possesses a great cocktail of game perception, size and ability to execute. Even though he's not an outstanding athlete -lacks burst and conventional athletic attributes-, he usually takes the right decision and keeps the game simple, so he creates advantages easily. His handles have improved a bit over the season, but one of his main areas for improvement thinking about NBA level is how good he will be at keeping angles alive against hard hedge defenses. De Larrea does well against drop defenses in pick&roll actions, has the foundation to be a good drive and dish passer and plays heads up in transition, so game creation comes easy to him. De Larrea has also improved his finishing and looks more to operate through contact than in the past, and he has made some strides pulling up off the dribble.

Defensively, De Larrea isn't a negative element. He helps his team by taking advantage of his size off the ball, providing some matchup flexibility, and when he's placed on the ball he can stay with the ball-handlers that aren't elite in explosiveness or creating room for their shots. One of the areas he needs to work on, especially to turn into a positive defender in open spaces, is improving his hip mobility, since he can struggle at turning the corner or get stuck.

Overall, De Larrea projects as a clear-cut first round talent in the upcoming NBA Draft. There are a few question marks related to on ball defense and scoring execution with the ball in his hands, as well as how he answers against aggressive coverages, but the blend of skills he presents is too appealing and unique in the class.

FIBA U20 European Championship- July 2024
By Artau Pascual

De Larrea’s body has turned a corner in the 2023/24 season. Standing at the fringe between 6’7 and 6’8, he has improved in key areas such as strength and motor and right now, he’s already able to translate his game to physically demanding stages. Compared to the 2022 and 2023 Summer events, Sergio de Larrea looks as a more matured and readier basketball player. During June, he was part of the Spanish NT that was preparing for the 2024 Olympics qualifying games.

In the FIBA U20 Eurobasket Championship, as the rest of the Spanish NT, De Larrea struggled to translate his dominance consistently. He displayed his creativity and manipulation skills by being an assertive pick&roll passer, involving multiple teammates in the actions and trying to be unpredictable, but he struggled to impact the game as an on-ball scorer. His release is sometimes short -doesn't do the full extension- and, when he gets in the perimeter, his floaters can be rushed and flat. He also needs to work on his craftiness as a finisher: he’s good at extending his arms to find better layup angles and plays well with the length of his last step, but he could use a little more of coordination to make it up for the lack of vertical leap and contact absorption. He can find his spots at all three levels: good process, but results have a margin for improvement. His ability to slow down the game, create distance with the defender by freezing or snaking and go either direction, alongside other ball-handling skills such as going away from the pick to create passing angles or holding the dribble, look like qualities that will make a difference for him at the next level. He also needs to do a better job at protecting the dribble, as sometimes it's too high and this makes it easier for opponents who go for steals against him: if he lowers his center of gravity and tightens more the handle, he will take another stride as a creator. On the other hand, the fact of playing for a team that wasn’t loaded with spot-up threats and the lack of a lob threat were reasons why he occasionally had a hard time to set up his team. Off the ball, De Larrea is not a guy with proactive movement habits, but he has the talent to understand where his space is, and he can do things off the sets, as well as he brings value as a decoy. Needs to improve his spot-up shooting results and raise his volume, but he should be able to share court with other ball-handlers.

On the defensive end, Sergio de Larrea put effort at navigating screens and used his length to stay with ball handlers as much as possible. He’s not a guy to stay with explosive, skilled, smaller guards at the next level, and he can struggle at defending the ball in open spaces as his hip flexibility isn’t elite, but he shows adequate levels of engagement and hand activity. Off the ball, he’s not the type of player who will create a tone of deflections, but his projection as a positional defender is solid because his game-understanding and anticipation skills are good enough and mesh well with his size. He’s not a liability and can have a positive impact in team-oriented schemes.

Sergio de Larrea projects as a clear-cut NBA talent. Ball-handlers with his size and poise are highly touted in the league, and some of his scoring issues are easy to identify and work on. His approach to the game isn’t lazy on the defensive end, neither. The next area where he needs to turn a corner is leadership and character: even if he’s not meant to be the type of lead guy who will put his team together, in Gdynia sometimes it looked like he could have been more aggressive and willing to make things happen, and that’s an area where we expected to see a bigger difference compared to last Summers because of the tendency his career is taking. If he’s able to do so, and considering all the other strengths and qualities he already displays regularly, he will be in the conversations for being a potential first-rounder in the NBA Draft.

U19 World Cup- July 2023

Almost 2006. The frame looks limited for the highest levels and his athletic tools don’t jump off the page either, but he was able to compete better than last summer. De Larrea was the most talented player on the Spanish roster, but due to the mentioned limitations and his lack of ambition to step up for a bigger role he ended up being a secondary ball-handler who took limited risks. He was one of the best players in the tournament at manipulating the offense in pick&roll, and he made outstanding passes that created advantages, but he needs to find the way to translate his skillset when games get tougher. Same for scoring: he’s good at driving and gets well to the paint, but he doesn’t handle well the contact. Needs to put all of his game together soon.

General overview- November 2022

Sergio de Larrea is a tall ball-handler who still has to bulk up and gain lower body consistency. The best tool of his game is his passing vision: he is a great processor off of pick and roll situations and, despite his angle manipulation is still not great because he needs to improve his body to grow in this area, he shows awesome reads and intentions. As a scorer De Larrea still needs to develop a consistent shooting form, but he knows how to get to his spots in the mid-range off of pick and roll and slows down the pace enough well to control this area. In addition, he has shown some nice flashes from the three point line in isolation actions and knows how to create space. Once he gains strength he'll be able to get to the restricted area with more frequency.

On the defensive end Sergio de Larrea struggles quite a lot. He is still unable of guarding guards with low center of gravity or advanced ball handling skills because he doesn't respond when they get on his hip and, in addition, he suffers when opponents with functional strength developed bring him to the post. Has good global awareness and positional instincts but needs to add intensity and motor to his game. Must improve his stance.


Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia - December 2020
De Larrea was one of the best surprises in Valencia. He is a tall and skinny guard with high shoulders who is still very undeveloped. His fundamentals and feel for the game were exceptional for a player of his age, compensating his lack of athleticism with smart decisions on both ends of the floor. De Larrea looks extremely natural playing with the ball in his hands, being an advanced P&R player for his age thanks to his ability to keep his dribble alive, above average court vision and ability to pass off the dribble. Despite his lack of explosiveness, he showcased a very good ability to score while driving as well, using his soft touch, wide eurosteps and great footwork to find angles inside the paint. De Larrea was participating as an invited player, but he is expected to join Valencia Basket this season.