NBA

Goran Dragic assures many European squads can compete: ‘I’d like to see NBA and EuroLeague teams playing together’

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By
Antonio Kozlow
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Antonio Kozlow Sports Editor

Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.

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Sports Editor

Updated12 Apr 2023

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Veteran Goran Dragic has played in the NBA for 14 seasons, playing for franchises like the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets. Now the 36-year-old plays for the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and is still enjoying a rotation role as a point guard in coach Mike Budenholzer’s squad. 

The player has always had an interesting point of view, based on all his experience and culture. This week, he talked to the European press about a compelling idea that brings together both NBA and EuroLeague teams to play against each other in a future competition.

“It should be noted that EuroLeague teams are not accustomed to playing at such a high tempo,” Dragic explained. “Definitely, top teams like Barça, Real Madrid, Efes… They can compete with NBA teams, but I don’t know how many times they’ll do it, it’s hard to say.

“But I would like to watch such a tournament, it would be good for basketball. The NBA has a brutal schedule and I don’t know how they can do it. We went to play in Paris with Chicago and frankly, it was tough“, he said.

The point guard, who used to play Miami and Brooklyn before signing for the Bucks, and before that played for the Raptors, was asked about how it felt to have the audience in Toronto whistling and shouting at him during his last visits. “I don’t care. Everyone says they whistle at me when I pick up the ball,” he said.

He explained that ever since he played in Europe, he’s used to these kinds of passionate environments for sports. “Well, is that all? I played in Belgrade before. It’s nothing, it’s perfectly normal for me,” he assured. “I don’t know why everyone is so curious about this.”

About a year ago, Goran got booed hard playing with the Brooklyn Nets in his first game back in Toronto in front of all the fans. Take a look at the crowd’s reaction once he stepped on court:

Will he play on this year’s World Cup with Slovenia?

During the interview, the veteran said he still felt uncertain over his participation in the 2023 FIBA World Cup alongside Luka Doncic.

“This is a different tournament because there are teams that you haven’t played before, such as the African and Asian team,” the point guard explained. “But then everything is always the same, there are the United States, Australia, and other Europeans… It’s a tough tournament, we’ll see. I don’t know if I’m going to the World Cup yet. We’ll see what happens over time.”

It seems like he still has a fresh memory of his country’s elimination from last year’s Eurobasket competition against Poland. “We have to focus on every game. If you ask me what we need to improve, we should play the best basketball possible at the moment,” he said.

“We had a tough group in the last EuroBasket and we won almost every game,” Goran recalled. “And then Poland eliminated us in a match we should have won on paper.”