Dražen Petrović

Who was Dražen Petrović?

Dražen Petrović was a Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s before joining the American NBA in 1989. Petrović died in a car accident at the age of 28.

A star on multiple stages, Petrović earned two silver medals and one bronze in Olympic basketball, a gold and a bronze in the FIBA World Championship, and a gold and a bronze in the FIBA European Championship. He represented Yugoslavia and, later, Croatia. He earned four Euroscar Awards, and was named Mr. Europa twice. In 1985 he received the Golden Badge award for best athlete of Yugoslavia.

Seeking a bigger arena after his career start in Europe, Petrović joined the National Basketball Association in 1989 as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. After playing mostly off the bench that year, Petrović experienced a break-out following a trade to the New Jersey Nets. While starting for the Nets, he became one of the league's best shooting guards.

Petrović is considered the crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA. Petrović's #3 was retired by the Nets in 1993, and in 2002 he was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was voted the Best European Basketballer in History by players at the European Basketball Championship.