By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dražen Petrović spent the last four seasons of his career in the NBA, playing for the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets before his tragic accident.
He earned All-NBA Third Team honors in his final season and made a significant impact on the league despite playing only four seasons. A fierce competitor and elite scorer, he averaged 22.3 points per game in his last season with the Nets.
Former NBA champion Vernon Maxwell, who won two titles with the Houston Rockets, knew just how good Petrović was—he felt it firsthand.
“He gave me nightmares,” Maxwell said on the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
It wasn’t about Petrović’s physical attributes, though Maxwell remembers him being bigger.
“He was bigger than me. I’m 6’4. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it before… I’d rather guard Black Jesus, Michael Jordan, than guard him. That’s how bad it was for me. He used to give me buckets. I was so frustrated—I couldn’t stop him,” Maxwell concluded.