By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Former Gonzaga standout Filip Petrusev explained that he chose to begin his professional career with Mega Soccerbet because he considered it the ideal option to help him reach the ultimate goal: The NBA.
“My main goal is to go to the strongest league in the world, which is the NBA,” Petrusev said in an interview with RTS. “If I wanted to start a European career, I would definitely choose another club at a higher level, the EuroLeague or the EuroCup.”
Petrusev, 20, has been turning heads in his first pro season, leading the ABA League in scoring with 23.9 points per game while being ranked second in rebounds with 7.9 boards. The Serbian big man was named October and December MVP of the Month.
Thanks mainly to Petrusev’s efforts, Mega is currently fifth on the standings and aiming at one of the four playoff spots.
“I think that it’s the Mega environment that you can’t find in Europe,” Petrusev said. “It’s very difficult. The team is made mostly of young players, they get a chance. There’s only one competition and there’s a lot of room to work every day, practicing at a high level.”
A couple of years earlier, NBA All-Star center Nikola Jokic was making his own basketball beginnings with Mega. Petrusev considers the Nuggets center a role model for him and other players of his age.
“Certainly, he is a role model for all young players in Serbia, because he does something in the NBA that no one has done before him, we have rarely seen that,” Petrusev said. “I think he is a very atypical player, abnormally talented. “