Drazen Petrovic

Drazen Petrovic was a Croatian basketball player who parlayed a highly-successful career in Europe into a five-year stint in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets. The two-time Mr. Europa Award winner from Yugolslavia was named the Croatian Sportsman of the Year in 1985 and 1986 while playing for Cibona in Zagreb.

Petrovic guided Croatia to bronze and silver medals in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic games, respectively.

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Drazen Petrovic was a Croatian basketball player who parlayed a highly-successful career in Europe into a five-year stint in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets. The two-time Mr. Europa Award winner from Yugolslavia was named the Croatian Sportsman of the Year in 1985 and 1986 while playing for Cibona in Zagreb.

Petrovic guided Croatia to bronze and silver medals in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic games, respectively.

He made the leap to the NBA in 1989 with Portland hitting on a career high .459 percent from 3-point range. The Trail Blazers traded Petrovic to the Nets as part of a three-team trade in January of 1991. Petrovic was playing at the top of his game during the 1992-93 season, setting career highs in seven statistical categories, including field goal percentage (.518), free throw percentage (.870) and points-per-game (22.3).

Petrovic's life was cut short on June 7, 1993, however, when his car slammed into a truck on a wet and foggy night on Germany's Autobahn 9.

The Nets retired Petrovic's No. 3 jersey to honor the fallen star.

Subject ID: 60379

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