NBA Mock Draft: Knee Injury Could Drop Top Prospect to Magic

Nikola Topić, an 18-year-old playmaker from Serbia who is considered one of the best European players in the June 26-27 NBA Draft, suffered a partially torn ACL on May 13. In Yahoo Sports' latest mock draft, Topić goes No. 18 to the Magic.

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ORLANDO — The Orlando Magic have multiple avenues to address their need at point guard, but one mock draft now projects that a top prospect will slide to them with the No. 18 overall pick.

Nikola Topić, an 18-year-old playmaker from Serbia who is considered one of the best European players in the June 26-27 NBA Draft, suffered a partially torn ACL on May 13. In Yahoo Sports' latest mock draft, Topić will fall down the first round to the Magic.

"The Magic have the luxury of being patient with Topić's recovery after it was revealed he suffered a partial ACL tear late in the season," Yahoo Sports writes. "Orlando has one of the deepest backcourts and might consider taking a swing on Topić if he falls, considering he was a projected top 5 pick all year because of his size and playmaking ability."

At 6-foot-6, Topić would fit the Magic's preference for positional size. He also has plenty of big-game experience playing for Serbia and was most valuable player of the FIBA U18 European Championship in 2023.

Before transferring to Crvena Zvezda in the Serbian Super League, Topić averaged 18.6 points and 6.9 assists across 13 games for Mega BG in the ABA League. He made 65.4 percent of his shots inside the arc and around the basket but only 28.8 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Topić is nearly a consensus top-10 prospect on media draft boards: No. 5 for CBS Sports, No. 9 for Yahoo Sports, No. 10 for ESPN, and No. 11 for The Ringer. The 6-foot-6 point guard lasted to the No. 13 overall pick (Sacramento Kings) in The Ringer's latest mock draft.

The Magic may have to go a year without Topić if they draft him and he needs knee surgery.

The NBA Draft begins on June 27 at 8 p.m. ET.

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