By Johnny Askounis/ [email protected]
A few months after signing a four-year contract with Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet, the young Nikola Topic was recalled from a loan mission with Mega MIS.
Subject, 18, spoke with ESPN’s Jonathan Givony on his decision to return to the Belgrade giant. “My dream for many years was to play for Red Star” he said, “I grew up being a fan of this club. It will mean everything to me to play in front of 20,000 Red Star fans. I couldn’t say no to playing EuroLeague basketball.
The son of former player Milenko Topic is expected to be among the top picks in the 2024 NBA Draft. Finishing the 2023-24 campaign at Mega would be combined with better opportunities to showcase his talents to visiting NBA scouts. “It’s a huge risk, but I’m ready.” he confirmed.
Heading into Thursday’s away game against Panathinaikos Aktor, Zvezda is 6-10 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. In the previous two seasons, Topic logged a total of ten minutes in three appearances in Europe’s premier continental club competition. He is likely to earn more playing time as a backup point guard under Giannis Sfairopoulos.
The subject also wishes to test Luka Doncic’s Opinion on Scoring Being Easier in the NBA Than the EuroLeague. “I don’t know if I agree with him, but now I’ll be able to see it for myself in six months,” the Serbian upstart had planned to move to the NBA.