2024 NBA Mock Draft: Updated first-round projections after trade deadline
. player. Nikola Topic. KK Crvena Zvezda. 29. Nikola Topic. 3. 3. . G
The Spurs land their point guard with 6-foot-6 Nikola Topic, who was recently promoted to the upper level of European competition with Red Star. Injuries have impacted his season, but Topic is the best playmaker on the board. He has a special talent for driving the lane and carving out finishes in the paint. He needs to work on his 3-point shot, but the constant rim pressure and high-feel playmaking should immediately pay off for San Antonio.
Victor Wemabanyama inches closer to superstardom with each game. What the Spurs have failed to do is find ways to make his life easier — primarily due to their lack of reliable ball-handlers on the perimeter. Tre Jones is a fine stopgap, but the Spurs need a long-term initiator to run the offense through and help feed Wembanyama more simple finishes at the rim. Topic fits the bill.
Read our full scouting report on Nikola Topic here.
4. Reed Sheppard. Reed Sheppard. 4. player. . G. Kentucky. 64.
The Pistons need shooters. Reed Sheppard has been one of the best shooters in recent college basketball history. There is some concern about overlap in the Pistons backcourt. Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Marcus Sasser — that's a lot of guards. Fortunately, Cunningham and Thompson are both wing-sized, so the Pistons are afforded extra positional flexibility. Sheppard has what appears to be an adaptable skill set. He can snipe 3s off the catch and operate brilliantly as a connector, but he has also taken a more central role in Kentucky's offense of late, with great success.
Detroit can allow Sheppard to come into his own slowly, with Cunningham operating as the offense's primary fulcrum and Ivey putting constant pressure on the rim. Defensively, it's a great fit. Sheppard is incredibly solid at the point of attack and he's even better off the ball, darting into passing lanes and leveraging his instincts to create turnovers. The Sheppard-Thompson lineups would create mass headaches for opposing offenses.