FILE – Red Star’s Nikola Topic, right, drives to the basket during the Euroleague basketball match between Red Star and Partizan in Belgrade, Serbia, January 4, 2024. AP Photo, File)
France is not the only country to produce the best prospects for the NBA – that’s sort of what it would say.
Victor Wembanyama was the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft a year ago and won the league’s Rookie of the Year award.
Two other French people, Alexandre Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher, are tipped to be the first choices in the draft on Wednesday evening. Tidjane Salaun is another potential French lottery pick, and Pacôme Dadiet could be selected late in the first round.
But the international pool extends beyond France. Other hopefuls include Nikola Topic and Nikola Djurisic of Serbia, Bobi Klintman of Sweden, Juan Nunez of Spain and Ulrich Chomche of Cameroon.
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Here’s a closer look:
Nikola Topic (Serbia)
The 2.08m point guard is suffering from a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament, but is still tipped to be a first-round pick. He won’t turn 19 until August. He was tipped as a top-five prospect at the start of the 2023-24 season after his performance with the Belgrade club Mega, the former team of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Topic made a mid-season return to his original club, Red Star, to play alongside one of his idols, Milos Teodosic, and to get some meaningful minutes in the Euroleague. But he missed time with a left knee injury, before the ACL problem that arose later.
“I’m working on my rehab from my knee injury, and that’s my main focus right now,” Topic said during a video call with reporters June 4 from the NBA’s preliminary camp in Treviso, Italy. “After that, I’ll work on basketball. … I’ve been doing (the) weight room. It’s not 100 percent healed. I haven’t started running or playing basketball. The focus is on my rehab, on my knee and my body mainly.”
In the latest AP NBA Mock Draft, Topic was projected to be selected 15th. He needs to improve his 3-point shooting – as he shot about 30% last season. He averaged 14.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.3 turnovers per game in an injury-shortened season.
Nikola Djurisic (Serbia)
The 6-7 small forward logged major minutes over the past two years as a starter with Mega, where he was teammates with Topic for part of last season. Djurisic, 20, improved his 3-point shooting this season, but still shot just 30.5 percent overall — and 33.6 percent in 30 Adriatic League games. He averaged 14.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 3.2 turnovers.
In an interview with the Indiana Pacers during his visit there for a pre-draft workout, the 209-pound Djurisic said he was trying to show that he was a “three-level scorer, that he can defend multiple positions, that he can go 1-through-4.” He said he is “definitely a creator” on the court “who cares about finding open teammates.” He is projected as a second-round pick.
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Bobi Klintman (Sweden)
The 21-year-old Swede played last season in Australia as part of the National Basketball League’s “Next Stars” program. A versatile 6-foot-9 forward, Klintman shot 36% from 3-point range in 23 NBL games for the Cairns Taipans while averaging 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Klintman, who weighs 212 pounds, played one season at Wake Forest and withdrew from last year’s draft. The AP’s mock draft predicts Klintman heading toward the end of the first round.
Juan Nunez (Spain)
After playing in Real Madrid’s youth system, the 6-4 point guard played with Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany for the past two seasons. The left-hander shot 31.9% from 3-point range in his two seasons there.
Nunez, 20, has shown improvement. He averaged 9.9 points, 4.9 assists and 2.3 turnovers in 2023-24 and in 15 Eurocup games, he’s upped those numbers to 10.8 points, 5.7 assists and shot 35 percent from beyond the arc. A crafty playmaker in the pick-and-roll, the 205-pound Nunez lacks explosiveness. He’s not an elite defender but can be disruptive on that end of the floor. Nunez shot just 60.7 percent from the free-throw line last season. Most mock drafts predict Nunez as a second-round pick, which could make him a draft and stash candidate.
Ulrich Chomche (Cameroon)
The 6-10 center is trying to become the first NBA Academy student-athlete to join an NBA team directly. Chomche, who weighs 232 pounds, barely qualifies for this draft — he turns 19 on Dec. 30.
He played two seasons in the Basketball Africa League. Chomche was preparing for a third season but withdrew when he received an invitation to the NBA Combine. In three BAL qualifying games played for the academy team, he averaged 13 points, nine rebounds and 2.7 blocks. His game is often described as “raw”, due to the limitations on the offensive side. With a 7-foot-4 wingspan, he can certainly block shots and protect the rim. Africa academy alumni Babacar Sané of Senegal and Thierry Darlan of the Central African Republic have left for G League Ignite. Sané is in the draft; Darlan said so but withdrew.
