NBA Draft: Dario Saric says he’s coming to NBA in 2016

The NBA Draft is tomorrow night but there will be one prospect who will not be rising on any draft boards after word he won’t be coming to the NBA next season. In a throwback to the Ricky Rubio drama of 2009, the NBA future of Dario Saric will be put on hold as he returns home to Croatia to continue his overseas care.

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That’s news we did know, but we didn’t know was when he was planning on coming over to the NBA to start his pro career. According to Saric himself, the planning to make the leap to the NBA after the first two years of his contract overseas is up — which means whoever drafts him will have to put him back in the oven to bake until 2016.

This isn’t really all that big of a surprise as the teams in the lottery have other prospects to concern themselves with and Saric won’t hear his name until No. 11 overall with the Denver Nuggets at the earliest.

Still, knowing for sure that he won’t be over in the NBA until 2016 means that he may drop off some boards as teams in the lottery are looking for win-now prospects that can develop and begin winning before 2016 arrives.

Saric is a monster small forward though and his skills and height will be something someone in the lottery no doubt takes a chance on, even if he ends up getting draft and stashed at No. 14 overall by the Phoenix Suns.