Tribute to Croatian Basketball Icon Drazen Petrovic on his Birthday

Huge replica of Drazen’s jersey from his first club (Instagram)

The greatest basketballer to ever come out of Europe, Croatian Drazen Petrovic, would have turned 53 today.

A huge replica of Drazen’s No.4 singlet from his former club KK Sibenika was put up this weekend in the centre of Sibenik, the city where Drazen was born, to mark his birthday.

#sebenico #sibenik #croatia #kroatien #croatiafulloflife #visitsibenik #drazenpetrovic #basketball #basketballmozart #nets #zivotletikapetane

A post shared by Ivo Grgić (@ivo.grgic.7) on Oct 21, 2017 at 5:08am PDT

Born in Sibenik on 22 October 50 years ago, Petrovic was just 28 years of age when he was killed in a car accident in Germany after returning from playing for Croatia in Poland on 7 June 1993.

Na današnji dan 1964. godine rodio se legendarni Dražen Petrović. Da je s nama, Dražen bi danas napunio 53 godine. ŽIVOT LETI KAPETANE! ❤ #DrazenPetrovic #Petrovic #Croatia #Hrvatska #CRO #Legend #Basketball #VolimHrvatsku

A post shared by Love Croatia (@volimhrvatsku) on Oct 22, 2017 at 1:11am PDT

Dražen Petrović (photo: nba.com)

Voted the Best European Basketballer in History, Petrovic enjoyed an illustrious career with the New Jersey Nets, averaging 20.6 points in 36.9 minutes on the floor, and nearly leading all NBA guards in field goal percentage (51%). He did not miss a single game.

The grave of Dražen Petrović at Mirogoj in Zagreb. (photo: SpeedyGonsales under CC)

Drazen’first car parked outside his place in Sibenik (Photo credit: Radio Šibenik,)

“…a dani se vrte , ka basket,ka srića, najlipšu si priču o mladosti priča…” #drazenpetrovic

A post shared by Iva Marinic (@mariniciva) on Oct 22, 2017 at 12:37am PDT

Drazen also won Olympic basketball medals, as well as a gold and a bronze at the FIBA World and European Championships.