Filip Petrusev Withdraws from 2020 NBA Draft

Former Gonzaga Bulldogs center Filip Petrusev has withdrawn from the 2020 NBA Draft, Eurohoops.net reported.

Petrusev has been stellar since entering the ABA league in his home country of Serbia, playing for Košarkaški klub Mega Basket (which is currently known as Mega Soccerbet due to sponsorship reasons), averaging 21.7 points. 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game. He was named the league MVP for the month of October.

The departure of Petrusev after his sophomore year in itself was not too much of a surprise for Gonzaga fans, it was more so the destination. Petrusev was one of the top offensive players on the best offense in the nation last season, averaging 17.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. He drew fouls at an unprecedented clip for a Gonzaga big man, fourth in the nation at 7.7 per 40 minutes.

However, at the time of his departure, the 2020 NBA Draft was hardly a concrete thing. Rather than stick around in college for, at the same time, what was a huge question mark for a season as well, Petrusev left the Zags to begin his professional playing career. Petrusev was largely projected as a mid- to late-second round draft pick, one of the prime examples of the current disparities in styles of play for big men.

Although Petrusev was stellar around the rim, his range was limited. While European basketball often features that position-defined style of play, the NBA is a bit more fluid. Petrusev very well could have enjoyed a lucrative career in the NBA, in the right situation, as easily as he could be a complete afterthought on the wrong squad.

The 2020 NBA Draft is scheduled for Nov. 18, 2020, smack dab in the center of the Serbian season anyway. Presumably, the 2021 draft will move back to the standard month of June, and Petrusev could enter that, if he so chooses.