Dražen Petrović

Dražen Petrović was considered the greatest player ever produced in Yugoslavia, and probably in Europe, until his untimely death. The Croatian began playing for Yugoslavia in 1981 when only 17. A 1.97 metre (6-5½) guard, he helped Yugoslavia to a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics, a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, and a European championship in 1989. He was drafted in the third round by the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. Petrović was the youngest Yugoslav player to play professionally in another country when he signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid which began shortly after the 1988 Olympics. In 1989 he joined the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA but was later traded to the New Jersey Nets. He led Croatia in 1992 at Barcelona when they won a silver medal, losing only to the “Dream Team”.

Petrović played for four years in the NBA, and in his last two seasons was one of the top shooting guards in the league, averaging 22.3 points/game in 1992-93. He was tragically killed in a car accident on the German Autobahn (motorway) shortly after that season ended. Posthumous honors that came to him included the re-naming of his home basketball arena in Cibona as the Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall, a square in the city of Zagreb was named for him, and a statue of Petrović was erected in front of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2002 he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2007 to the FIBA Hall of Fame.