Dražen Petrović

Dražen Petrović was born in the coastal city of Šibenik, Croatia (then Yugoslavia). Spending hours practicing shooting at 6 a.m. before school, Petrović entered KK Šibenka's senior team at fifteen. Moving to Cibona Zagreb in 1984, Petrović led them to back-to-back EuroLeague championships in 1985 and 1986. In October 1985 in a Yugoslav league game against Olimpija Ljubljana, Petrović scored an astonishing 112 points (shooting 40 of 60). Moving to Real Madrid in 1988, he scored 62 points in the European Cup Winners' Cup final against Snaidero Caserta.

Entering the NBA in 1989 with the Portland Trail Blazers, Petrović endured frustrating benching under coach Rick Adelman, who mistrusted European players' defense. Traded to the New Jersey Nets in 1991, Petrović proved his world-class caliber: he became the starting shooting guard, averaging 22.3 points on 51.8% shooting and 44.9% from three-point range in 1992–93, earning All-NBA Third Team honors.

At the international level, Petrović led Yugoslavia to the 1990 FIBA World Championship title. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, he captained newly independent Croatia through the war for independence, leading them to the gold-medal game against the original American 'Dream Team', scoring a game-high 24 points against Michael Jordan. On 7 June 1993, returning from a national team game in Poland, Petrović was killed as a passenger in a car crash on the Autobahn near Denkendorf, Germany, mourned as one of the greatest European players of all time.