Photo: EuroLeague Basketball

Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas believes that 18-year-old Serbian prospect Aleksej Pokusevski will leave Europe and enter the NBA Draft.

“I think that Aleksej Pokusevski will enter the draft, and I believe that he will be picked,” Bartzokas said.

Bartzokas continued, “We have NBA scouts for him almost in every practice and me and my coaching staff is getting a ton of calls for him. At this point, there’s pressure in the NBA on this matter. Teams don’t want to miss the next Doncic or the next Jokic. … They want to find a similar case in Europe. That’s why any player with potential is under the microscope, and Pokusevski is exactly that. He is more than 7-feet tall with shoes, he has a great wingspan and has great basketball instincts. He is great with the ball on his hands, he can shoot and pass, he can play the pick and roll, and he can also put the ball on the floor.”

Pokusevski has plenty of upside and potential, but his talent is still “raw” and he needs to add strength.

“On the other hand, he has issues with his lack of physicality, which is something natural,” Bartzokas said. “And there’s also the question in which position he can defend and by extension in which position he will play in the NBA. … He has potential. I don’t think that he is ready to play in the NBA, and he will need to go to a team that will work with him and develops him for the next two or three years.”

Pokusevski only appeared in one game for Olympiacos, but as a member of the Olympiacos B team, he averaged 12.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Multiple NBA mock drafts have Pokusevski getting picked in the mid-to-late first round.