Zagreb's Arena sports hall on Thursday hosted an exhibition game commemorating the 60th birth anniversary of the legendary Yugoslav and Croatian basketball player Drazen Petrovic, who was killed in a car crash in 1993 at the age of 28.

The memorial game honouring the basketball great was played by Team Croatia and Team Europe, and it brought to Zagreb numerous former and current Croatian, European and world basketball stars. The event was sponsored by the Croatian government, with the support of the Zagreb city administration and the Croatian Basketball Association and was attended, among others, by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

Attended by 16,500 spectators, the event started with a short film about Drazen Petrovic and his career which started in his home town of Sibenik and continued in Cibona, followed by Real Madrid, Portland and New Jersey. Also shown were scenes from the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games when the Croatian national team played in the finals against and lost to the USA Dream Team.

Croatian NBA stars Bojan Bogdanovic and Dario Saric and world basketball star Luka Doncic of Slovenia spoke about what Drazen had meant to them as young players.

The exhibition game commemorating Drazen Petrovic was played by numerous current players of EuroLeague clubs and was watched by numerous former basketball stars, Drazen’s co-players from the Croatian national basketball team, former Yugoslavia’s national team and many other former basketball stars from around the world.

Team Croatia was led by coach Josip Sesar and consisted of Goran Filipovic, Martin Junakovic, Kresimir Radovcic, Antonio Jordano, Mateo Dreznjak, Filip Kruslin, Mario Hezonja, Dario Dreznjak, Toni Nakic, Krešimir Ljubicic, Roko Prkacin and Danko Brankovic.

Team Europe was led by Neven Spahija and Zeljko Obradović and its members were Marcelinho Huertas, Shane Larkin, Nenad Dimitrijevic, Džanan Musa, Andre Obst, Vanja Marinkovic, Jaka Blazic, Tornike Shengelia, Dyshawn Pierre, Walter Tavares, Mathias Lessort and Boban Marjanovic.

Breaks during the game were used to recall Drazen’s career path, and in one of them the year 1983 was recalled, when Drazen headed his club Sibenka to the Yugoslav champion title, with a victory against Bosna. Predrag Saric spoke on behalf of the then generation of basketball players, and the audience were also greeted by the then coaches of Sibenka, Vlade Djurovic and Zoran Slavnic.

The event was also addressed by members of the former generations of Cibona and Real Madrid, while Portland was represented by its legendary player Terry Porter, and New Jersey, now Brooklyn, by Kenny Anderson.

Anderson said that Drazen was a phenomenal player and shooter, while Anderson said that he was amazing and that the news of his death was a huge shock because he was a fantastic player and an even better person.

The exhibition game ended in a victory for Team Europe, which beat Team Croatia 110-107.

Especially emotional was the moment when Drazen’s co-players from the Croatian national team that won the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics went out into the basketball court. The spectators were greeted by Aramis Naglic, Dino Radja, Alan Gregov, Stojko Vrankovic, Zan Tabak, Franjo Arapovic, Vladan Alanovic, Toni Kukoc and Danko Cvjeticanin. Also, a hologram of Drazen, created by AI, appeared, with Drazen addressing his former co-players and the spectators, after which he left.