Aussie teen giant Rocco Zikarsky shooting for the NBA
Jasper Bruce |
Teen giant Rocco Zikarsky has joined the list of Australians taking their NBA shot in 2025 as the basketball league reveals its shortest list of early draft applicants in a decade.
Only 106 players lodged an application for early entry, a requirement for those who are not automatically eligible from having played four years of college or from turning 22 this year.
That’s the lowest number of early applicants since 91 applied in 2015, the year Karl-Anthony Towns went with the No.1 pick.
Zikarsky is one of four players from the NBL’s Next Star program declaring for the draft that will be held across two days in late June, announcing his intentions on social media on Wednesday.
“All in,” the Brisbane Bullets centre wrote on his Instagram story accompanied by two crossed-fingers emojis. Players can only nominate for the NBA draft once.
Zikarsky had a quieter second campaign in the NBL that ended prematurely due to a knee injury.
But he is still rated a chance to be taken in the second round of the draft, offering the rare and imposing height of 220cm.
Sydney Kings wing Alex Toohey last month became the first of last season’s Next Star class to announce he would declare and could be taken with a late first-round pick.
Top Australian college talents Tyrese Proctor and Alex Condon have chosen to prematurely end their respective stints at Duke and the University of Florida to throw their hats in the ring.
Power forward Condon turned his back on the possibility of an AFL career to play college ball and could be taken in the first round after seeing his draft stocks rise in recent weeks.
Proctor, a point guard, is also rated a good chance of being selected after three seasons at one of the USA’s most prominent basketball colleges.
Trinidadian Malique Lewis and Spain’s Izan Alamansa are the international Next Stars declaring for the draft after spending last NBL season with South East Melbourne and Perth, respectively.
The last remaining member of last season’s Next Star program Karim Lopez is too young to declare for the draft until next year, having only turned 18 this month.
The Wildcats announced on Wednesday that Alamansa’s Australian teammate Ben Henshall had also declared for the draft.
Lachlan Olbrich is another Australian player with draft aspirations after playing two seasons with the Illawarra Hawks, with whom he won the most recent NBL championship.
Given he turns 22 in December, Olbrich did not need to apply for entry into the draft and is considered a slimmer chance than Zikarsky or Toohey to be selected.
AAP
