Georgian center Goga Bitadze has submitted paperwork to the league office to make himself eligible for the 2019 NBA draft, his agent Misko Raznatovic told ESPN.
Bitadze, the No. 19 prospect in the ESPN Top 100, is having an outstanding season in the Euroleague for Buducnost, averaging 12.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 24 minutes while shooting 60 percent from inside the arc, something that's never been accomplished by a teenager in Euroleague history. He is the runaway favorite to win the prestigious Euroleague Rising Star award which will be announced at the final four in May. He posted the highest PER in Euroleague history for a teenager, exceeding that of Luka Doncic's last season.
The 7-foot, 250 pound Bitadze was discovered as a 16-year old at the FIBA U16 European Championship, and was quickly signed by Serbian agency Beobasket, who run Adriatic League farm team Mega Bemax. The Belgrad-based club has sent numerous players, including Nikola Jokic, to the NBA over the years.
Bitadze was having one of the most dominant campaigns in Adriatic League history for a teenager at 20 points 8 rebounds in 28 minutes per game when he received an offer in late December to be loaned from Mega to Euroleague club Buducnost from neighboring Montenegro, which he accepted. Bitadze is currently playing in the Adriatic League playoff finals, attempting to help the team secure a spot in next season's Euroleague. He will return to Mega Leks for the Serbian League, which runs through May and early June, at the conclusion of the series.
Bitadze has represented his native country of the Republic of Georgia in every age category at the FIBA level, including the U16, U18 and U20s. He played all ten games of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers with the senior team as well until his Euroleague obligations forced him to decline a call-up for its February window.
Bitadze has a case to be considered the top center prospect in the draft thanks to excellent size, girth, and versatile skill level offensively, as he's equally comfortable operating inside the post, on the perimeter or as a finisher in pick and roll situations. His limitations as a defender and overall declining value of big men in today's NBA may hold those aspirations back some, but there are a number of teams that consider him a lottery-caliber prospect nonetheless. No Georgian player has been drafted in the first round since Nikoloz Tskitishvili went fifth in 2002.
