Sunday NBA Fix: Will Serbian Star Milos Teodosic Come To NBA?

Welcome to the Sunday NBA Fix for Sept. 14, where we look at a player who has intrigued scouts once again with his play at the FIBA World Cup.

But we’ll start with a look at a player who hasn’t made his way to the NBA, but one who has turned some heads.

Serbian point guard Milos Teodosic has carried his team—which went 2-3 in group play—through the elimination round and into Sunday’s FIBA World Cup final against Team USA.

In eight games, Teodosic is averaging 14 points, 4.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds and a steal while playing 27.8 minutes per game.

More significantly, he has stepped up his play as the stakes have increased.

In Serbia’s 84-56 thrashing of Brazil in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Teodosic went for 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting, with four assists.

Against France in the semifinals on Friday, he had 24 points and was 9-for-12 from the floor, including hitting 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

His shooting slash is a remarkably good .552/.489/.842 for the tournament and in the elimination stage he is hitting 18-for-31 (58.1 percent) overall, 10-for-18 (55.6 percent) from deep and is 14-for-15 (93.3 percent) from the foul line.

He’s been a solid performer for the last five years, though, and has shown the tendency to increase his level of play as the stakes get higher.

With Olympiakos in 2009-10, Teodosic averaged 9.7 points and 4.1 assists per game on .399/.331/.790 shooting.

But in Euroleague play, those numbers increased to 13.4 points, 4.9 assists and a shooting line of .489/.426/.892.

He’s spent the last three seasons with CSKA Moscow—the famed Red Army team—and last season averaged 11.7 points and 4.7 assists in league and Euroleague play.

The 27-year-old  has received NBA interest, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, but has financial conditions attached to any possible move to North America.

Stein had some follow-up information on Sunday:

“Bodiroga” refers to Serbian forward Dejan Bodiroga, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 1995, but never made the jump to the NBA. In 2002, Bodiroga, then 29, helped lead Yugoslavia to a gold medal at the FIBA World Championships, teaming with Peja Stojakovic.

Bodiroga wound up playing 18 years in Europe. Will Teodosic follow that path or will he make the jump to the Association? He’s NBA-ready on the court, it’s just a question of whether a team will make him NBA-happy in the bank account.

Here’s a division-by-division look at what’s making news around the association: