{"id":607874,"date":"2026-04-26T18:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T18:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607874\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T18:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T18:20:07","slug":"andrej-stojakovic-enters-nba-draft-maintains-college-eligibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607874\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrej Stojakovi\u0107 enters NBA Draft, maintains college eligibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrej Stojakovi\u0107<\/a> has now entered his name into the upcoming NBA Draft while still maintaining the option to come back to Illinois<\/a>, according<\/a> to Jeff Borzello at ESPN. The news comes less than two weeks after Stojakovi\u0107 posted a video on Instagram announcing his return<\/a> to Illinois for his senior season. Stojakovi\u0107 joins Keaton Wagler<\/a> as the second Illini so far to declare for the NBA Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of right now, Stojakovi\u0107 isn\u2019t a projected pick in the NBA mock drafts<\/a>. The junior is more than likely just testing out the NBA waters over the upcoming months before his senior year since he isn\u2019t on NBA radars right now. The decision to declare won\u2019t hurt Stojakovi\u0107, as he will only learn where he will be able to improve before the 2027 NBA Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his sole season at Illinois, Stojakovi\u0107 averaged 13.5 points per game on 50% shooting from the field and 4.5 rebounds per game. By the end of the season, the junior solidified himself as a player who can impact the game on both the offensive and defensive sides with his size and athleticism. Stojakovi\u0107\u2019s skillset as an explosive driver and finisher also gave Illinois a different look offensively on a roster loaded with 3-point shooters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Stojakovi\u0107 continues on the NBA path and doesn\u2019t return to Illinois, it will not only lose a high impact leading scorer, but also a player who could be a veteran leader next season. Other veteran returners such as freshman forward David Mirkovi\u0107<\/a>, junior centers Tomislav<\/a> and Zvonimir Ivi\u0161i\u0107<\/a> and junior wing Jake Davis<\/a> still remain on the roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

@evy_york2<\/p>\n

[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrej Stojakovi\u0107 has now entered his name into the upcoming NBA Draft while still maintaining the option to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-607874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}