When Nikola Topić was 10 years old, he was a soccer player. A left back in Novi Sad, Serbia, his hometown. But when his best friend left the pitch for basketball, Topić grew bored and lonely. He missed his friend, so he wandered over to the court to play, too.
That decision, just eight years ago, a little capricious and a bit endearing, changed the course of Topić’s life. Today, the 18-year-old is on the precipice of the NBA. In a year in which the NBA Draft is as unpredictable as ever, with no consensus top player, Topić is one of its more interesting prospects.
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At 6-foot-6, he is a big point guard with a deft passing touch and ability to finish at the rim, and his coaches praise his high basketball IQ. He split this past season between Mega Basket, where he was on loan at the Serbian club which has served as a stepping stone for players on their way to the NBA, and Crvena zvezda, also known as Red Star, one of Europe’s best teams, where he debuted while still a teenager.
Topić has already had in-person visits with the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz, he said. He is widely expected to be not only a lottery pick in just a few days, but could crack the top 10. He is ranked No. 13 on The Athletic’s prospects list, though he enters the draft with a partially torn ACL in his left knee.
Last year, Topić watched the draft on TV. Soon, he will be there himself.
“It’s incredible,” Topić said. “It feels like a dream. Watching the NBA Draft and everybody else goes out on the stage and takes pictures with Adam Silver, that’s amazing. That was one of the things I was dreaming for and to be in a position to live that way it’s really incredible and I really want to enjoy these moments because they’re a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Topić may have come to basketball out of friendship, but he has followed family to the court. His father, Milenko, was a venerated forward who helped the former Yugoslavia win an Olympic silver medal and gold at EuroBasket and the FIBA World Championships. Milenko Topić played and coached at Red Star, and Nikola followed in his father’s footsteps this past season. Topić points to his father as a mentor. His coaches say it was clear he was raised by a basketball coach.
But Topić has carved out a game all on his own. His size is a weapon. He measured at 6-5 3/4 without shoes. He has a negative wingspan at 6-5 1/2, but an 8-6 standing reach, which was tied for third-largest among guards at this year’s NBA Draft Combine. While Topić is not a superb athlete, coaches praised his heady play.
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“I think he has the positional size, which is really important, and he has that basketball athleticism,” Mega Basket head coach Marko Barać said. “He’s so good in the open court and he finds angles and most important his basketball IQ is so high. I think he will adjust easily. Of course the NBA is a different level of athleticism, different speed, everybody needs sometime to adjust, I think his basketball IQ is so high he will be able to read the game and anticipate certain situations a couple steps in advance.”
Topić, his coaches say, will be able to adjust to the NBA because of his competitiveness and maturity.
At Mega, Barać said, Topić broke his nose in a game early in the season, then returned for the next game on the road at FMP Beograd, wearing a mask to cover his face and scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to catalyze a win. He averaged 18.4 points and 7.1 assists in 12 games with Mega in the Adriatic League with uneven shooting splits; Topić shot a blazing 66.7 percent on 2s but just 25.9 percent on 4.5 3s per game.
At Crvena zvezda, head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos raved about Topić, too. He told the story of Topić’s encounter on the junior team, when a coach punished one of his teammates and fined the teammate half his per diem; Topić went to the coach and offered to pay on his teammate’s behalf because he was from a wealthier family.
“He has something that makes him unique, the combination of his talent together with his mentality,” Sfairopoulos said. “He’s very mature for his age. He’s 18, 19 and he looks like he’s 32 — his mind, I mean.”
When Topić debuted for Crvena zvezda, after his half-season on loan at Mega, he fulfilled a lifelong dream — to play for the same club as his father. He also got to play with Miloš Teodosić, who at 6-5 and a dynamic passer, had been an idol for Topić. The time alongside Teodosić was, Sfairopoulos said, like attending school for the young point guard.
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But Topić only played four games for Crvena zvezda. He injured his knee on a closeout in January, and upon returning last month, got hurt again, this time with the partial ACL tear.
While Topić’s year ahead of the draft was difficult, he believes it had some benefits too. He hopes he can take lessons from it into his future in the NBA.
“It kind of strengthened me,” he said. “It’s a process. It’s the worst thing that can happen to a professional athlete to not being able to play the sport and not being able to perform at a high level. I mean, that’s the worst thing, obviously. And it just showed me how strong I am physically and mentally, and how strong I can be. I think it prepared me for the future.”
(Photo: Oscar J. Barroso / Europa Press via Getty Images)