2024 NBA Draft Prospect: Nikola Topic

Nikola Topic will bring size, playmaking, and court vision to any team that drafts him in the 2024 NBA Draft.

2024 NBA Draft prospect: Nikola Topic (KK Crvena Zvezda)

Height without shoes, Weight, and Age when NBA season begins: 6’6”, 203 pounds, 19 years old

Standing reach: 8’6” | Wingspan: 6’6”

Mock average: 12.8

NBA player ranking for access to combine information: 2nd - 6th (for teams drafting 1st to 15th)

Who is Topic?

Topic is a 6’6” Serbian point guard who can also play off-ball at the 2. Topic began this season with KK Mega Bemax, but he was then recalled back to KK Crvena Zvezda. He was injured in early January and just returned to play in late April.

Topic has started 19 of 20 games in all competitions this season, with averages of 16 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists to 2.6 turnovers, 1 steal, 0.2 blocks, and 3.2 fouls in 30.1 minutes per game.

Topic attempts 11.5 shots (50% accuracy), 4 threes (30% accuracy), and 3.7 free throw attempts (88% accuracy) per game.

When looking at Topic’s shot diet on 2s and 3s, 65% of his attempts are from 2PT range and 35% of his shots are from 3PT looks. He’s made 61% of his 2s in all competitions this season, while shooting 30% from outside. The FIBA 3PT line is around 22 feet from the basket, similar to a corner three in the NBA.

What are Topic’s ready-to-go skills on offense?

Playmaking, Court Vision, and Anticipation

• Topic is a natural point guard who has the ball handling and ability to use his body to deflect pressure from an on-ball defender.

• When he runs the pick-and-roll, defenses usually go under, which, with his size at 6’6”, he’s able to read the floor and find all sorts of teammates with direct passess - weakside corner and arc shooters, rolling bigs, cutting teammates.

• Topic also likes to initiate P&Rs above the 3PT line, similar to Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, which gives him more space to either try to get an opportunity to drive by the defense or scan the floor for a missed or late rotation, to deliver a pass to an open teammate.

• When off the ball, Topic has good anticipation instincts, sometimes seeing a play developing before he even touches the ball. On one play, he was open at the wing arc, he called for the ball with two hands up, his teammate threw it to him, and he immediately zipped a pass down to a cutting teammate near the basket for a layup.

• Topic also uses the drive-and-kick action when it looks like he has a speed advantage against the player defending him on switches. He’ll tell his team to spread out, drive in against the player, draw in a help defender, and then kick out to an open shooter with 1 or 2 hands.

• While this isn’t something that is quantifiable, at 18, Topic is getting to learn and play alongside one of the craftiest guards in international hoops - Milos Teodosic. There’s got to be some advantage to spending time with Teodosic and also playing alongside him in some lineups, where they both run the point and shooting guard positions together.

• Topic likes to put the defense on their heels, by wanting to push the ball up the court quickly to initiate the offense before the defense can get set in the halfcourt.

• On the break, Topic usually finds his teammates in the right spot when delivering the ball in the open court. If the defense isn’t paying attention and he has a teammate down court already, Topic can quickly use a 2-handed full court pass to find a teammate for the easy 2 points.

What skills will Topic need to continue to develop at the next level?

Shooting, Defense

• As mentioned above, defenses usually go under on Topic’s P&Rs, and if he gets switched onto a big, that big may back off him to prevent a drive. Topic shot 30% from distance on a shorter three point line, and the NBA three will be even more challenging, since it’s almost three feet further back above the arc. While Topic is ready to make spot-up 3s, he showed the ability to dribble to his left or right behind a screen and hit a pull-up three pointer when the defense gave him space.

• It’s tough to tell how much more aggressive Topic can be when attacking the basket. When he was with Mega Bemax, he was taking over 12 shots per game. When he joined Crvena Zvezda in a small sample size because he got hurt, he’s only been taking about 4-7.5 shots per game.

• In the film I watched, Topic was able to shuffle his feet to stay with his opponent up top on defense, but if the player tried to drive directly at him, the opponent could usually use his physicality to get some separation from Topic near the basket.

• When trying to move around screens off ball or in P&R, Topic usually had trouble here as well, either having to switch, or recovering late onto the player he was guarding.

• Topic has shown that he can use his court vision when off ball to also anticipates some passes that are coming, and in those instances, he’s able to get in the middle of a passing lane for a steal.

What do the draft experts say about Topic?

Kevin O’Connor of the Ringer: Feel for the game, ball handling

Jonathan Givony of ESPN: Highly unselfish, creative passer

Krysten Peek of Yahoo! Sports: Great size and sees the floor well

NBA Draft Room: Elite passer

What are Topic’s NBA comps?

My comp: Elements of Milos Teodosic’s passing, especially the two handed jump in the air pass to the weakside corner

Kevin O’Connor of the Ringer: Shades of Goran Dragic

NBADraftRoom.com: Rich Man’s Goran Dragic

How would Topic fit with the Spurs?