By Eurohoops tem / info@eurohoops.net
Aleksandar Petrović recently discussed Panathinaikos’ interest in signing his late brother, the legendary Dražen Petrović, after what turned out to be his final season before the tragic accident in Germany that took his life.
At the time, the head coach of Panathinaikos was Croatian coach Željko Pavličević, a two-time EuroLeague champion with Cibona and Jugoplastika. Speaking to BasketballSphere, Pavličević shared details of Dražen’s potential move to the Athens team and the idea of pairing him with Nikos Galis at Panathinaikos.
“That year, I got in touch with Dražen. We didn’t have a sports director, so the president told me the amount we could offer. Dražen was earning around $2 million a year with the Nets, which he felt was low compared to other players. We were prepared to offer him €2 million net, which was 40% higher than in the U.S.,” Pavličević said.
Petrović would have become the highest-paid player in Europe with the contract Panathinaikos prepared for him.
“Naturally, a player of Dražen’s caliber could choose his club, but I spoke with him personally. I can’t say for sure he would have joined 100%, because with these matters, you never know until the very end. His manager, Warren LeGarie, who was recently in Zagreb, was already negotiating contract details along with bonuses that would have come with it. At that time, it would have been the strongest contract in Europe, without any competition,” Pavličević concluded.