The NBA is the most competitive basketball league in the world. While there are many players in the NBA, not all of them make it to the top of their game. However, there are some who have scored milestones in the history of the NBA. Some of these players are Serbian.
Serbian players have made a name for themselves in this prestigious league over time. They have broken records and set new landmarks that other players aspire to achieve one day. These successful Serbian players in the NBA of all time include Vlade Divac, Nikola Joklc, Predrag Stojakovic, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Peja Stojakovic, Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Boban Marjanovic, and Miroslav Raduljica. If all of this cratches a betting itch, you can check out the safest betting sites.
In this article, we will just go write about some of the best ones, so let’s start:
Vlade Divac
Vlade Divac, also known as the “Legend”, is a retired Serbian basketball player. He has played for three teams in his career, but he is best known for being with the Los Angeles Lakers. Apart from the Lakers, he has also played for Sacramento Kings and twice for the Charlotte Hornets. Vlade was drafted by the Lakers in the 1989 NBA draft. While playing with the Lakers, he managed to break some records. The first record broken was becoming part of what was then called the highest-scoring game ever when he scored 51 points alongside Shaquille O’Neal against the Golden State Warriors. However, this record was broken again by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal just a few weeks later.
However, some other amazing records were set by Vlade Divac. He is the first Serbian player to win an NBA championship as he helped the Lakers win 3 games against Portland Trail Blazers in 2002. Unfortunately, the Lakers lost the next four games and hence lost the series. That didn’t stop him from becoming only the second European to make it into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after Detlef Schrempf made it in 2015. Apart from being a player with high-scoring statistics, he also managed to set up a new record for players who have been part of most trades done in NBA history by playing for three different during his career. He was waived in 2005 by the charlotte Hornets. His last game in NBA was when he played for Sacramento Kings against Houston Rockets in 2008.
Vlade Divac is an amazing player who has had his share of accomplishments in the NBA. He is also famous in Serbia where he was elected to be part of the Serbian parliament between 2012 and 2016 during which he served twice as a deputy prime minister under Ivica Dacic and Aleksandar Vucic.
Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic, better known as “Joker” among his fans, is a Serbian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basket Association (NBA). He is best known for being drafted 41st overall pick by Denver Nuggets in the 2014 NBA draft. However, he got traded to Nuggets and signed a four-year rookie contract with them. Apart from Denver Nuggets, he has also played for Mega Leks of the Serbian League. He is only the second Serbian player in history to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award after Mihailo Pajic won it in 1986 for Detroit Pistons.
Nikola Jokic was drafted by Denver Nuggets but made his debut against the Philadelphia 76ers on October 29th, 2015. In this match, Nikola scored 16 points and 5 assists which marked a new milestone in his career thus became one of the best players in Serbia. Furthermore, he also became a member of Team World during the Rising stars challenge between U.S rookies and other international players. In his career, Nikola has played in 453 games where he has a field goal percentage of 53%. He also holds a record for having the highest points scored by a rookie in NBA history with 40 points against Sacramento Kings.
Nikola Jokic is one of the most successful Serbian players in the NBA who have set new records while playing for the Denver Nuggets. Some of these include being drafted as no 41 picks and the only second player from Serbia to get Most Valuable Player Award. He has won the NBA All Start title three times and has won the NBA’s most valuable player for the 2024-21 season.
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Bogdan Bogdanovic is a professional Serbian basketball player from Belgrade who plays for Atlanta Hawks. He was selected 26th overall during the 2014 NBA draft by Phoenix Suns but got traded to Kings after playing for Fenerbahce Ulker. He is famous for being the first player ever drafted by Sacramento Kings who was born outside the US after previous players were all born in the US. He is known for his ability to shoot three-point shots which helped him score 51 points during the Euroleague match between Fenerbahce Ulker and Galatasaray Medical Park on October 18th, 2015. This became a new record as the highest number of points scored by a rookie since the 2000-01 season.
Milos Teodosic
The latest addition to this list of most successful Serbian players in the NBA is Milos Raznatovic, better known as Milos Teodosic. He was born on 4 January 1988 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia where he started playing basketball after being influenced by his elder brother Aleksandar. After being named MVP at FIBA Europe U20 championship in 2007, he became a member of the Serbian junior national team where he made several victories. He got transferred to Olympiacos Piraeus in 2010 but could not continue playing there due to injury and returned to Partizan Belgrade for the next two years.
Milos Teodosic was named among the 50 greatest Euroleague contributors in 2016 by euroleague.net which made him one of the best Serbian players. He has also won several awards throughout his career from different organizations such as Eurobasket, United League, Adriatic League, and FIBA Europe Cup. Milos joined the NBA in 2017 and stayed there for 2 years.