NBA Draft: Brooklyn Nets Struck Late-Round Gold With Dzanan Musa

During Thursday’s NBA Draft, the Brooklyn Nets used the 29th overall pick on 6-foot-9 Bosnian forward Dzanan Musa, a decorated young player who’s eager to come to the States and showcase his potential. The Nets passed on the likes of Khyri Thomas and Keita-Bates Diop for a prospect who’s relatively unknown to the general population, and the 19-year-old provides something Brooklyn desperately needs — wing scoring.

In 16 EuroCup games with Cedevita this past season, Musa averaged 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per 36 minutes while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor, 36.4 percent from three-point land and 75.6 percent from the foul line. Before that, he made waves as a dominant force with Bosnia’s youth national teams. In 2015, Musa and his U-16 squad were FIBA Europe gold medalists. For the tournament, Musa led all scorers with an average of 23.3 points a night, including a 33-point explosion against Lithuania in the final. He maintained the hot hand through the summer of 2016, where he averaged 34.0 points per game during a run through the FIBA U-17 World Cup. Bosnia failed to reach the championship and finished in 9th place. However, during a contest against Chinese Taipei, Musa dropped 50 points in just 27 minutes.