Drazen Petrovic, had unique skills in basketball, allowing him conduct his game with mastery. For this reason, he has been nicknamed “Mozart of Basketball” by those who saw him playing. A quite offensive shooting guard and with pitches of unlimited range, he has already scored 112 points in a game of the Croatian League of 1985 by scoring 40 out of 60 shots.
Due to his experience in international competitions, mainly due to the technical way of playing thanks to the European basketball, Petrovic became a thorough and domineering player, just like Michael Jordan. He starred in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games and took BC Cibona to the European Cup (1987) and National Cup (1988) championships. He also drove his Real Madrid Spanish league team to the European Championship (1989) and led the Yugoslavia team to win the European Championship that same year.
His unique skills took him to the NBA, where he unfortunately only played for 4 seasons, as his career would be interrupted by his tragic death at the age of 28 in a car accident in Germany. He started his career playing for the Portland Trail Blazers in 1989, before being traded to the New Jersey Nets in 1991. In his final NBA season (1992-93), Petrovic averaged 22.3 points per game and team leadership in 51.8% of pitches (between 2 points and free throws), including 44.9% in three-point shots.
Petrovic also had a very close relationship with Vlade Divac, but their friendship was interrupted by patriotic issues that can be better understood in the documentary 'Once Brothers'. Divac, was the 26th choice in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft, he then played for 16 seasons and today is the General Director of the Sacramento Kings.