Top 7 NBA Players from Slovenia
Slovenia is currently a country of the European Union born on June 25, 1991, after the segregation of the former Yugoslavia.
Due to its privileged geographical location, it has been one of the Balkan countries that have been more easily integrated into the European environment since it geographically share borders with Austria, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia.
In recent years, since the beginning of the globalization policy of the NBA worldwide and since the dismemberment of the former Yugoslavia, 9 Slovenian players (the first of them Marco Milic) have made it to the NBA and up to 11 players have been Drafted.
All this has nothing particularly considerable except for the small detail that Slovenia is a country with only 2 million inhabitants.
If we put in parallel the proportion of NBA players to its population, we are talking, without a doubt, about one of the largest producers of players in the world. To exemplify that, we’ve listed the following countries for comparison matters:
- Spain – 47 million inhabitants – 11 NBA Players
- Italy – 60 million inhabitants – 5 NBA Players
- Germany – 80 million inhabitants – 5 NBA Players
- Argentina – 42 million inhabitants – 9 NBA Players
- Brazil – 200 million inhabitants – 9 NBA Players
Surely, the amount of NBA players doesn’t reflect the number of active NBA players, but the amount these countries have ever had in the NBA.
Putting it to a better perspective, if Slovenia had the total population of Brazil, perhaps they would have 900 players in America. Although that’s unrealistic, this is strong evidence of the power of this country when it comes to Basketball.
Finally, with the help of our author, Tomaš Selinec, who’s an expert to the subject – you can check her out here -, we begin this review with the Slovenes who have already made it to the NBA:
Goran Dragic
Goran Dragic is the current Slovenian basketball star.
He has already been in the league for many seasons in which he has played for teams like the Suns, the Rockets and in the Miami Heat.
Sasha Vujacic
Sasha Vujacic was one of the members of the Lakers of the era of Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant.
He won two rings very young and at only 26 years old he left the NBA to return to European basketball.
Marko Milic
Marko Milic was the first Slovenian national to make an NBA debut.
With an athletic physique tailor-made for basketball, he had no luck in the NBA playing just 44 games in the 2 seasons he was with the Phoenix Suns.
Bostjan Nachbar
He is the best Draft Slovenian player in NBA history.
He spent 6 seasons in the NBA but when he was beginning to play at a good level for the Nets, averaging 10 points per game, he decided to return to Europe.
Barcelona and currently Sevilla have been some of his teams at this stage of his career.
Rasho Nesterovic
Nesterovic is another of the Slovenian players who has a 2005 NBA Champion ring from his time at the San Antonio Spurs.
He played for the Timberwolves, Spurs, Raptors, and Pacers for 12 seasons.
He left the league in 2010
Beno Udrih
Beno Udrih is together with Rasho Nesterovic the Slovenian player who has played the most seasons in the NBA with 12.
He began his NBA career with the Spurs and won two NBA Champion rings there in 2005 and 2007, although at that stage he played little for Popovich’s team.
Later in the Kings, he had high-quality seasons, exceeding double digits in scoring four consecutive years.
Luka Doncic
Little can be said about Luka Doncic that has not already been said.
He is the greatest promise of European basketball and has been ruling the NBA wearing the Mavs jersey.
Doncic is really something special, and although other Slovenes have already won the NBA, I’m pretty sure he will make his countrymen proud in case he wins it with the Mavs, who are considered a low-tier NBA team at the moment.
Conclusion
Slovenia is realistically one of the biggest references of European nations when it comes to Basketball promising players.
Currently, their biggest names in the NBA are Goran Dragic, and mainly Luka Doncic, who is enchanting even locals from the United States.
Do you think that any of these players could win a ring in his careers, though?
Well, I guess Doncic has a better chance of doing so, although it is perfectly possible for Dragic as well.
You can lay your wagers on Doncic, or the Mavs to win the NBA, or however team you support on basketball by signing up to online bookmakers. There’s a huge variety of them nowadays, and it can be hard to pick the best one. If you have a talent, you can always do športne stave košarka.
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