Drazen Petrovic was a legendary basketball player in his home country of Croatia (formerly Yugoslavia). The 6’5″ shooting guard was a young icon in the EuroLeague and well on his way to becoming an icon in the NBA. Unfortunately, his life ended tragically on June 7, 1993. At the age of 28, Petrovic was involved in a car accident in Germany that ended his life far too soon. The news shocked both the NBA and his home country of Croatia.

Although it has been more than 30 years since his death, Petrovic’s legacy lives on. Those who watched him play still talk about him. A basketball game will be played in Petrovic’s honor next month.

Drazen Legacy game will take place on September 5th in Croatia

The Drazen Legacy Game will feature active NBA players

In early 2024, Drazen’s brother Aleksandar Petrovic broke the news that a basketball exhibition game would be held in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The game will take place on September 5th and will be known as the Drazen Legacy Game, pitting players from Croatia against players from the rest of Europe. Aleksander, 65, has never played in the NBA, but was also a long-time professional basketball player. He won a bronze medal for the former country of Yugoslavia at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Although the full rosters for the game have not yet been announced, some names have been revealed. Bojan Bogdanovic, now with the Brooklyn Nets, will play in the game. This bodes well for Brooklyn that he will be ready for their training camp. The 35-year-old had both knee and wrist surgery and missed much of the 2024 postseason while with the New York Knicks. Ivica Zubac, who has been the Los Angeles Clippers’ full-time starting center for the past three seasons, has been confirmed to play. The other active player is Dario Saric, who spent last season with the Golden State Warriors and has since signed a 2024-25 contract with the Denver Nuggets. Also confirmed are Gordan Giricek (played in the NBA from 2002-2008) and Damjan Rudez (played in the NBA from 2014-2017).

Basketball Hall of Fame career

Petrovic’s NBA career lasted four seasons, but who knows how long he would have played had tragedy not struck. In his first NBA season (1989-90), Petrovic played for the Portland Trail Blazers. They reached the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games. Although Petrovic was part of their rotation, he did not play many minutes as Portland added Hall of Fame shooting guard Clyde Drexler to their roster.

After seeing even less playing time in his second season, Petrovic was traded to the New Jersey Nets in January 1991. There, his NBA career began to reach new heights. In the 1991-92 season, Petrovic finished second in the voting for the player with the most improvement. In his final season (1992-93), he earned a spot on the All-NBA Third Team. In 1991-92 and 1992-93, he averaged more than 20 points and sank a total of 44.6% of his three-point attempts.

Before his NBA career, Petrovic received numerous awards as a young man abroad. He won a bronze medal with Yugoslavia at the 1984 Summer Olympics and a silver medal in 1988. He won two EuroLeague championships with Cibona in 1985 and 1986. Petrovic was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

In a cool moment, then-Nets guard Anthony Morrow participated in the 2012 Three-Point Contest. For the event, he donned a Nets jersey with Petrovic’s number 3 to pay his respects to the sharpshooter.

(2012) Anthony Morrow honors Nets legend Dražen Petrović in the 3-Point Contest! Classic. pic.twitter.com/vuw4KMChCZ

— Timeless Sports (@timelesssports_) 18 February 2018