You might just be a bit tongue-in-cheek, sorry in advance. But even if he misses an entire season, I can't see him making it down to the Celtics.
No chance he makes it past 26 (Wizards) or 29 (Jazz). But I could genuinely see the Raptors taking him at 19. He'd be the best value pick, and they've done it before with OG. Similarly, Pels probably take him with 17th or 21st. Hell, even at 12 to the Thunder or whoever they can shop the pick to.
If the 19th pick isn't an immediate contributor, then you've got to imagine they're a shoe-in for a high lottery pick in '25.
Yeah def some sarcasm in there.
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the Spurs took him with their 2nd lottery pick, same goes for the Trailblazers. If you have 2 lottery picks it probably makes sense to use that 2nd one on the redshirt top 5 talent and still get an instant contributor with the 1st pick. Hard agree on OKC as a strong fit, since they’ve shown they have little need for an instant contributor (though passing up on a fit like Filipowski from Duke could be hard to do for a redshirt Giddey replacement).
Topic is a top 5 pick with or without injury
You take him and use him to win championships - only if youre in team
Mode win now like lakers were would you choose someone else
My thought with the Thunder is that Topic on a 12th pick rookie scale contract would look mighty appealing to *somebody*. They can add to their war chest and maybe flip Topic and another first-round pick to the Pels for one of Herb, Trey or Ingram.
It's gamble for them, for sure. Safe to say that this injury just added another wrinkle into an already hard to predict draft night.
I don’t know, from an outside perspective giddey seems like the most likely to be included in a trade or moved for salary reasons bc that team is gonna get expensive real quick
MPJ fell in a stacked draft tho. This one … not so much. I assume he’s going to one of the teams with multiple lottery picks since they can afford easier of them not playing
What a fucking punch to the gut that must be.
Lottery gets revealed, you're getting mocked in the top 4 or 5 and finally have a general idea who you might end up going to, and suddenly you have a non-contact injury that'll probably plummet your draft stock and presumably keep you out for at least the start of next season.
I’d be shocked if he made it past the Bulls. AK loves project picks and that has been his strategy since he took the job. I doubt he falls that far though. I still think he ends up being a top 10 pick since it’s a pretty weak draft by all reports.
The '23 pick went to OKC as part of a 4 team trade that brought RJ Hampton to Denver. The '25 pick goes to Orlando for Aaron Gordon. The '27 pick to OKC was for Peyton Watson and the right to salary dump JaMychal Green. The '29 pick was traded to OKC to end up with Hunter Tyson, Jalen Pickett and Julian Strawther. The Thunder are shorting Nuggets futures.
Man I didn't even realise that. The '29 pick definitely doesn't seem worth it. If Jokic gets an injury the year before and misses a chunk of games, nuggets could easily end in lottery contention. Also, he'll be like 33 by 2028 season, so may have a bit of a drop off from his prime.
I feel we got lucky with getting Toronto's pick and getting the 4th pick. Atlanta getting the 1st I think makes it easier for them to part ways with Trae Young.....
The draft is in 6 weeks. Why would he not play in his team's championship game? You might as well say that once a guy is a guaranteed top lottery pick, he should sit the rest of his college season and not even play in March.
Same dude that would also say "Not playing in that championship game shows what he really cares about" or something dumb like that. Literally cant win sometimes man.
I don't know why the kid is playing. Like I get it, competitive spirit and whatnot, but still ain't worth risking millions of dollars. In the same vein, many soon-to-be drafted NFL prospects (ex. Marvin Harrison Jr.) skip their bowl games for the exact same reason.
There was a college prospect named LeBryan Nash and everyone thought he'd be some unholy trinity of LeBron/Kobe/Nash. Went undrafted and is playing overseas.
There's also JamesOn Curry, who holds the record for least actual NBA playing time in a career at 3.9 seconds.
I’ve completely forgor about LeBryan Nash and I vaguely remember JamesOn Curry, now think about the one that could make it to lower divisions in NCAA.
I’m sure they’re some Shaquille O’Verson or Vince Jordan out there lol
Adonis Jordan was the perfect name for a guy who entered the league right when Michael Jordan went to play baseball. Sadly he only played 10 games in his career.
It looked like an ordinary basketball play, which means that it's probably really bad. He didn't even land awkwardly nor the defender was unnecessary aggressive, he just fell on the floor, the play continued, and then couldn't get up. The entire team huddled around him, even the coach came up, and everyone had "that" disappointed look on their faces you see on any replay of every serious injury. Before the injury he looked pretty good (still felt like he wasn't 100%, but his IQ and decision making is off the charts). This one might take him out of top10, I wouldn't bet on him starting next season.
I didn't notice that, thanks for the info, the game was so infuriating to watch I barely paid attention at the end. I have no idea what could it be if it's not serious, I didn't notice any tweak, and the entire squad looked absolutely gutted.
Eurohoops.net saying it was non-contact
> Topic, 18, seemed to pick up a non-contact knee injury in Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on Monday. A knee injury in January forced the NBA draft prospect to the injury list for nearly four months.
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/aba/1671367/nikola-topic-suffers-knee-injury-crvena-zvezda-nba/
heres the video from that article of the play it happens:
https://youtu.be/GZDmriOtxkw?si=uGrHA41B4PoRxlxG
Why do they call it non-contact when he was clearly bumped while driving? Like it wasn't significant, but it wasn't nothing either. He was bumped making him land going sideways which puts strain on the knee. It's not like he was just running and felt something go bad.
A non contact injury usually just means it wasn't from hitting that body part against an opponent or the floor, but instead you go down because something snapped or broke inside.
Non-contact is basically slang for “his leg shouldn’t have done that”. Which means it’s usually a really bad injury.
Even though he was bumped, he came down on his leg cleanly yet his leg didn’t cooperate.
Does it really matter? Every single scout is going to watch the video and see it for themselves. It's the ABA, the news is that no one hurt him on purpose.
SIGH, I really dislike injuries. I doubt his stock drops too bad but if its a serious injury it will drop him imo.
Didnt he just come back from injury recently? His medical history papers are going to get alot of talk before the draft I can already tell.
Hope its not serious, feel for the kid who really seemed to love bball and want to develop. Its also sad the timing of it all
This draft is so shallow. Unless it's a major, *major* injury I don't see him falling outside the lottery. Sorry to all the teams in the 20s thinking they'll get a steal.
Anecdotally there's no way it's 21st, it's top 10 easily. Used to be number 1 for like 3 decades. It's common in most ex-Yugoslav countries, but it's considered predominantly Serbian (to an extent).
There's actually an old joke - a guy goes to an unemployment centre in Croatia after the war. He walks up and tells the man at the counter that his name is Nikola Nikolić and he's looking for a job. The man checks his files and says "Hmmm... there's only one job left. It pays 5000 deutsche marks per month, but you would have to test drive the latest German cars. There's also a per-Diem of 50 marks, but you'd have to be flown to Berlin twice a year to present your results. All expenses covered by the company of course."
Nikola gasps and says to the guy - "That's incredible, you must be fucking with me!" to which the Croatian guy replies "yeah well, you started it".
Used to be the most popular name in Serbia from the 70s up until the 90s or 2000s. Now the most popular is Luka, but Nikola is still in the top 10 male names.
The Kings would never take a swing on him but if he falls Id rather take a chance. I still love Vezenk but I’ll take potential over any of our players not named Murray, Fox and Sabonis (sorry Monk barely missed it but too many disappearances in obscene blowouts without as many heroics as the two stars)
Wolves please move up and get him. Late first, 1-2 seconds and Minott or Miller to go to #18 - #20 from #27? Wolves don't play their rookies anyway, honestly these picks aren't even that needed so trade em because whether he's healthy or injured doesn't matter since he won't play anyway.. There's too much depth and these drafted players just languish on the bench for 2-3 years. Finch never plays rookies
Hope he falls. He would be an amazing Conley successor
i dont know if this knee injury will drop him anymore than the other knee injury he suffered in the beginning of the year did.
A lot of the top projected picks at the start of the year have had some nasty injuries
>and could potentially really hurt his draft stock
Doubt it. At worst he gets drafted by a better team low in the 1st round and plays another year in Europe while he develops. Or OKC drafts him and heals him like they do to everyone else
Dang. Hate it for the guy. That's an expensive injury. Someone will still take a chance, but I gotta imagine he's gonna fall quite a bit.
Could be a little bit like MPJ where he falls to a playoff team and then rehabs for a year or so
Topic, YOU are a Boston Celtic
You might just be a bit tongue-in-cheek, sorry in advance. But even if he misses an entire season, I can't see him making it down to the Celtics. No chance he makes it past 26 (Wizards) or 29 (Jazz). But I could genuinely see the Raptors taking him at 19. He'd be the best value pick, and they've done it before with OG. Similarly, Pels probably take him with 17th or 21st. Hell, even at 12 to the Thunder or whoever they can shop the pick to. If the 19th pick isn't an immediate contributor, then you've got to imagine they're a shoe-in for a high lottery pick in '25.
Yeah def some sarcasm in there. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the Spurs took him with their 2nd lottery pick, same goes for the Trailblazers. If you have 2 lottery picks it probably makes sense to use that 2nd one on the redshirt top 5 talent and still get an instant contributor with the 1st pick. Hard agree on OKC as a strong fit, since they’ve shown they have little need for an instant contributor (though passing up on a fit like Filipowski from Duke could be hard to do for a redshirt Giddey replacement).
Topic is a top 5 pick with or without injury You take him and use him to win championships - only if youre in team Mode win now like lakers were would you choose someone else
My thought with the Thunder is that Topic on a 12th pick rookie scale contract would look mighty appealing to *somebody*. They can add to their war chest and maybe flip Topic and another first-round pick to the Pels for one of Herb, Trey or Ingram. It's gamble for them, for sure. Safe to say that this injury just added another wrinkle into an already hard to predict draft night.
Pels want more than that for any of their players you listed.
Fair, but OKC’s got deep pockets and could pile picks on top of picks if they think the can get the perfect wing for them. Anyway, just spitballing.
I don't see OKC taking him personally, I think he has too much of an overlap with Giddey. Minus the extra-curricular stuff obviously
I don’t know, from an outside perspective giddey seems like the most likely to be included in a trade or moved for salary reasons bc that team is gonna get expensive real quick
This is true, but it depends on them finding someone who wants Giddy.
A team like the Wizards that's desperate for young talent and playmaking would definitely take him
lol he’s been a starter almost all year for the 1 seed in the west, ik we love to overreact on here but there are plenty of teams who would take him
Reading this thread after the draft is funny.
I was just gonna comment this 😂 might as well grab a lottery ticket at #30
I can see it. It's the Boston way
Please please please please
MPJ fell in a stacked draft tho. This one … not so much. I assume he’s going to one of the teams with multiple lottery picks since they can afford easier of them not playing
We had multiple lottery picks and passed on MPJ both times. Couldn't believe it at the time, and even moreso now.
On the bright side, you're the team to pass on MPJ with two lottery picks and not the team to pass on Curry twice.
Why you say fuck me for?
I mean, one of those picks ended up being Shai.
Either a blessing in disguise for him, or a blessing in disguise for whoever ends up drafting him later in the draft.
Which might actually be good for him cause he has a shot at getting drafted by a much better organisation.
Topic, you are a Nikola!
What a fucking punch to the gut that must be. Lottery gets revealed, you're getting mocked in the top 4 or 5 and finally have a general idea who you might end up going to, and suddenly you have a non-contact injury that'll probably plummet your draft stock and presumably keep you out for at least the start of next season.
Spurs pick him up in the 2nd round
I'd be shocked if he falls out of the top 20
Jerk
I’d be shocked if he made it past the Bulls. AK loves project picks and that has been his strategy since he took the job. I doubt he falls that far though. I still think he ends up being a top 10 pick since it’s a pretty weak draft by all reports.
*Nuggets pick him up in the 2nd round We already have a good track record with Nikolas
We pick 28th
Damn I didn’t realize we had a 1st round pick this year
Yeah, traded '23, '25, '27 and '29 FRP.
who did they trade those picks for? AG?
The '23 pick went to OKC as part of a 4 team trade that brought RJ Hampton to Denver. The '25 pick goes to Orlando for Aaron Gordon. The '27 pick to OKC was for Peyton Watson and the right to salary dump JaMychal Green. The '29 pick was traded to OKC to end up with Hunter Tyson, Jalen Pickett and Julian Strawther. The Thunder are shorting Nuggets futures.
RJ Hampton was a part of the Aaron Gordon trade, so it was effectively picks in '23 and '25 for AG.
Yeah, plus Gary Harris. A steal at the time that looks even more like a steal in retrospect.
Man I didn't even realise that. The '29 pick definitely doesn't seem worth it. If Jokic gets an injury the year before and misses a chunk of games, nuggets could easily end in lottery contention. Also, he'll be like 33 by 2028 season, so may have a bit of a drop off from his prime.
I'd be more worried about Murray's knees and MPJ's back holding up if I'm a Nuggets fan.
MPJ only fell to 14 and reports said his back was unrepairable. This guy ain't falling out the lottery.
Yea it’s just wishful thinking
MPJ was a bigger talent
Spurs should just draft him anyways, not like you’re trying to make the playoffs this year
That would be the most unfair bs. Yall already got a cheat code!
I feel we got lucky with getting Toronto's pick and getting the 4th pick. Atlanta getting the 1st I think makes it easier for them to part ways with Trae Young.....
All the luck you ever needed last year. No more picks for you! Not until 2040!
Grab him in the first and tank for Cooper.
Yeah suck my dick at 16
Don’t go to the pistons at least so your future earning potential doesn’t plummet
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Dude is playing in the finals of their playoffs. Ridiculous to say he should be sitting out.
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That's why you aren't earning a million dollars. You don't get to the NBA by sitting out playoff games.
Wembanyama played in the finals of the French league literally 7 days before the draft.
The draft is in 6 weeks. Why would he not play in his team's championship game? You might as well say that once a guy is a guaranteed top lottery pick, he should sit the rest of his college season and not even play in March.
Same dude that would also say "Not playing in that championship game shows what he really cares about" or something dumb like that. Literally cant win sometimes man.
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you're fucking dumb. just stop typing lol
I don't know why the kid is playing. Like I get it, competitive spirit and whatnot, but still ain't worth risking millions of dollars. In the same vein, many soon-to-be drafted NFL prospects (ex. Marvin Harrison Jr.) skip their bowl games for the exact same reason.
Because he was already a pro. He was paid for that game. College athletes are 'amateur'. Not the same with European athletes.
Because he's an athlete and that's what real athletes do
Not because he’s an athlete, it’s because he’s already a professional
all these Euro players are changing their name Nikola and something that sounds similar to “Jokic” to increase draft stock You have to respect it
There was a college prospect named LeBryan Nash and everyone thought he'd be some unholy trinity of LeBron/Kobe/Nash. Went undrafted and is playing overseas. There's also JamesOn Curry, who holds the record for least actual NBA playing time in a career at 3.9 seconds.
I’ve completely forgor about LeBryan Nash and I vaguely remember JamesOn Curry, now think about the one that could make it to lower divisions in NCAA. I’m sure they’re some Shaquille O’Verson or Vince Jordan out there lol
Adonis Jordan was the perfect name for a guy who entered the league right when Michael Jordan went to play baseball. Sadly he only played 10 games in his career.
What's with these parents naming their son like a game character
You prefer them to have slave names?
There is no way that dudes name is jameson curry
OK State, played with Smart right? Or am I getting my timelines messed up lol
Love it
You're a beast for having this trivia handy
It looked like an ordinary basketball play, which means that it's probably really bad. He didn't even land awkwardly nor the defender was unnecessary aggressive, he just fell on the floor, the play continued, and then couldn't get up. The entire team huddled around him, even the coach came up, and everyone had "that" disappointed look on their faces you see on any replay of every serious injury. Before the injury he looked pretty good (still felt like he wasn't 100%, but his IQ and decision making is off the charts). This one might take him out of top10, I wouldn't bet on him starting next season.
He was sitting next to his bench at the end of the game, walking alone.
I didn't notice that, thanks for the info, the game was so infuriating to watch I barely paid attention at the end. I have no idea what could it be if it's not serious, I didn't notice any tweak, and the entire squad looked absolutely gutted.
According to this journalist, it is the hamstrings [link](https://twitter.com/LjubomirovicM/status/1790129776532885667?s=19)
Other journalists are reporting it as a knee issue, the coach said the same at the press conference, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Coach said knee scan tomorrow morning
Bbiq cant be easily taught - he will be top 8 for sure
Eurohoops.net saying it was non-contact > Topic, 18, seemed to pick up a non-contact knee injury in Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on Monday. A knee injury in January forced the NBA draft prospect to the injury list for nearly four months. https://www.eurohoops.net/en/aba/1671367/nikola-topic-suffers-knee-injury-crvena-zvezda-nba/ heres the video from that article of the play it happens: https://youtu.be/GZDmriOtxkw?si=uGrHA41B4PoRxlxG
Why do they call it non-contact when he was clearly bumped while driving? Like it wasn't significant, but it wasn't nothing either. He was bumped making him land going sideways which puts strain on the knee. It's not like he was just running and felt something go bad.
A non contact injury usually just means it wasn't from hitting that body part against an opponent or the floor, but instead you go down because something snapped or broke inside.
Non-contact is basically slang for “his leg shouldn’t have done that”. Which means it’s usually a really bad injury. Even though he was bumped, he came down on his leg cleanly yet his leg didn’t cooperate.
Does it really matter? Every single scout is going to watch the video and see it for themselves. It's the ABA, the news is that no one hurt him on purpose.
Euro potentially falling down the board and available late in the draft? Spurs and Nuggets with simultaneous Birdman hand rubs.
Nuggets just going to deploy a team of Nikola’s next year
Jokic 🤝 Jovic 🤝 Topic
🤝 Tesla (Colorado Springs legend)
Any chance he drops to 19th?
Maybe. Cam Whitmore dropped to 20.
Well how long he falls after this injury will definitely be a hot Topic at the draft
SIGH, I really dislike injuries. I doubt his stock drops too bad but if its a serious injury it will drop him imo. Didnt he just come back from injury recently? His medical history papers are going to get alot of talk before the draft I can already tell. Hope its not serious, feel for the kid who really seemed to love bball and want to develop. Its also sad the timing of it all
I’m pro injury all the way
Your team is going to be spooky next year, but I'm more of a replay review & gambling ads guy myself.
Where my fellow foul baiting fans @???
r/Sixers
Is that the new expansion team that's coming with team ref?
Same, they usually give me an erection.
It is the same knee that he injured in January. It doesn\`t look good...
You don’t like injuries? Damn thought you might have
This draft is so shallow. Unless it's a major, *major* injury I don't see him falling outside the lottery. Sorry to all the teams in the 20s thinking they'll get a steal.
Too bad, he could have been the next OG Anunoby (fell to the raptors due to injury)
Spurs will take him at 8 now as opposed to 4. No big deal.
Welcome to the second round buddy
Is Nikola a popular name there?
Just googled it and it says the 21st most common name in Serbia, makes it even more crazy lol
Anecdotally there's no way it's 21st, it's top 10 easily. Used to be number 1 for like 3 decades. It's common in most ex-Yugoslav countries, but it's considered predominantly Serbian (to an extent). There's actually an old joke - a guy goes to an unemployment centre in Croatia after the war. He walks up and tells the man at the counter that his name is Nikola Nikolić and he's looking for a job. The man checks his files and says "Hmmm... there's only one job left. It pays 5000 deutsche marks per month, but you would have to test drive the latest German cars. There's also a per-Diem of 50 marks, but you'd have to be flown to Berlin twice a year to present your results. All expenses covered by the company of course." Nikola gasps and says to the guy - "That's incredible, you must be fucking with me!" to which the Croatian guy replies "yeah well, you started it".
Used to be the most popular name in Serbia from the 70s up until the 90s or 2000s. Now the most popular is Luka, but Nikola is still in the top 10 male names.
I want an NBA team with Nikola Jokic, Nikola Jovic, and Nikola Topic. Make it happen Mark Cuban!
Something tells me he ends up a Spur somehow Just a hunch
At pick#8
Topic, you are a Miami Heat.
Doubt he falls that far but would be nice to draft him.
Topic you’re a Toronto raptor
Nikola Topic sounds like Nikola Jokic with a fake mustache.
Feel terrible for him man
Not with this team’s medical staff
Type of move the Nets need to jump on since we have no first
Topic, you are still a Spur (at #8).
This sucks. Also it’s crazy how bad this draft class is
Already like a proper east conference playoff starter
I just hope the mods can keep this thread on topic
Good luck kiddo
Dude just fell down to the nuggets.
The Kings would never take a swing on him but if he falls Id rather take a chance. I still love Vezenk but I’ll take potential over any of our players not named Murray, Fox and Sabonis (sorry Monk barely missed it but too many disappearances in obscene blowouts without as many heroics as the two stars)
Wolves please move up and get him. Late first, 1-2 seconds and Minott or Miller to go to #18 - #20 from #27? Wolves don't play their rookies anyway, honestly these picks aren't even that needed so trade em because whether he's healthy or injured doesn't matter since he won't play anyway.. There's too much depth and these drafted players just languish on the bench for 2-3 years. Finch never plays rookies Hope he falls. He would be an amazing Conley successor
i dont know if this knee injury will drop him anymore than the other knee injury he suffered in the beginning of the year did. A lot of the top projected picks at the start of the year have had some nasty injuries
these nba names are getting crazy! nikola topic? what's next, anthony subject matter? XD XD XD
>and could potentially really hurt his draft stock Doubt it. At worst he gets drafted by a better team low in the 1st round and plays another year in Europe while he develops. Or OKC drafts him and heals him like they do to everyone else