The USC Trojans were fairly certain that they would be getting a big piece to their team back for the 2016-17 season. However, big man Nikola Jovanovic announced that he has decided to stay in the 2016 NBA Draft and not return to the Trojans.
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported that despite not receiving an invite to the NBA Combine, Jovanovic would be staying in the draft and trying his hand at the next level. This is huge news as he was a big player for the Trojans last season.
USC's Nikola Jovanovic is staying in the 2016 NBA Draft, sources told @CBSSports. Significant Pac-12 news.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 25, 2016
Jovanovic’s announcement came on his Instagram account Wednesday and he seemed to lay out exactly why intended on staying in the draft.
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js
During the 2015-16 season, Nikola Jovanovic led the Trojans in field goal percentage while averaging 12.1 points per game and totaling 237 rebounds. He joins guard Julian Jacobs as the second USC player to declare for the NBA.
The Trojans are now without six projected returning players from a team that made the NCAA Tournament under first-year head coach Andy Enfield.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports