Nikola Popović (basketball)

Popović was born in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was a member of the Crvena zvezda under-18 team that lost to Real Madrid in the 2014–15 Euroleague Next Generation Tournament Final.^[3] Over four games in the final tournament, he averaged 5.8 points and five rebounds per game.^[4]

Popović began playing high school basketball in 2015 with the Sagemont School in Weston, Florida.^[5] In his senior year, he averaged 8.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game, earning him All-County First Team honors.^[6][7]

Popović posted 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a freshman at Boston College.^[8][9] As a sophomore, Popović averaged 9.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, starting 33 games. He had 20 points against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament.^[10] Popović averaged 14.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a junior at Boston College. As a senior, Popović averaged 10.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. His season was marred by a back injury that forced him to miss a substantial number of games. Popović had a season-high 23 points in a 100–85 loss to Belmont.^[11] He played the forward position as #21.^[12]

Popović was a member of the Serbian under-17 team that won the bronze medal at the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Over six tournament games, he averaged 7.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.^[21] Also, he was a member of the Serbian under-18 team that finished 5th at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in Volos, Greece. Over nine tournament games, he averaged 5.6 points, four rebounds, and one assist per game.^[22]