I can’t believe I am saying this, but here we are, still waiting to see if Illinois basketball will get back Andrej Stojakovic for the 2026-27 season.
At this point, it is kind of amazing that the Illini are still waiting on Stojakovic. He already announced his return about a month ago. A few days later, he declared for the NBA Draft.
Stojakovic then went through the NBA Draft Combine and kind of laid an egg. The thought was that he would have been back in the Orange and Blue by now, but that isn’t the case.
Wednesday, May 27, at 11:59 p.m. ET/10:59 p.m. CT is the deadline for Stojakovic to withdraw from the NBA Draft. This is literally deadline day.
Welcome to Deadline Day, everyone!
— Writing Illini (@WritingIlliniFS) May 27, 2026
Andrej Stojakovic has until 11:59 p.m. ET to make a decision on his future.
🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞 pic.twitter.com/ouMBRJE7r7
Meanwhile, Brad Underwood is out there wondering what is going on with his roster. This isn’t just a role player off the bench dabbling in the NBA waters. Stojakovic would be a starter next season.
Underwood is sitting there wondering if he is going to lose Illinois’ second-leading scorer from the Final Four run. Stojakovic averaged 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game as a junior. That would be a lot of talent coming back, but it would also be a lot of production to replace.
I think there are likely two options for Underwood if Stojakovic does take the bait and stays in the NBA Draft.
The first; status quo.
This isn’t really a plan. This is taking the Stojakovic hit in stride and pushing through with the current roster.
It wouldn’t be ideal, but Jake Davis has experience starting in the spot Stojakovic started last season. He isn’t the driver that Stojakovic is, but he is a much better shooter from three-point range. It is a push on defense.
Illinois would also then have someone like Zavier Zens being the primary backup to Davis. He had a sharp rise as a senior in high school, and I would be excited to see what Zens could do on the court.
Plan B for Brad Underwood would give Illinois basketball more overseas flair
I am not sure many Illinois fans would be happy with the status quo at this point. We are coming off a Final Four run. As a fan, we want more. We want that national championship.
When push comes to shove, I think Underwood’s Plan B, if Stojakovic does head to the NBA, is tapping back into the overseas market.
Misko Raznatovic is the agent for the Illinois Balkan players, and I am sure he has a treasure trove of talent that is willing to come over to the States to play basketball for a nice NIL deal.
The NCAA has recently made it harder for overseas players to come over and play in college if they have already played in the high-level leagues, but there are plenty of young, talented players that Raznatovic has in the holster.
Underwood doesn’t need to land a superstar from the Balkans. He just needs to land another quality talent who can give Illinois good minutes. It would be hard to get 13.5 points per game back, but as long as depth isn’t hurt too badly, that would be the goal of reaching into the overseas pool again.
I don’t envy the position Underwood is in right now. He doesn’t know what is about to happen in the next 24 hours. Let’s all hope that Illinois gets Stojakovic back in the fold.
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