Imagine being transferred from your job not because of your fault, but because the organization had to move things around. If you can empathize with this scenario, you have somewhat stepped into Filip Petrusev’s shoes. The 6’11” player started his professional basketball career with Serbian Basketball League’s Mega Soccerbet. But how long does a player need to gain overseas experience before declaring for the NBA draft? For Petrusev, it was just one season but what came after, wasn’t as smooth. 

For the 2020-21 season, Filip Petrusev played for the Mega Soccerbet in the ABA league. In just one season, the center secured the League MVP and Top Scorer honors averaging 23 points and 7.6 rebounds. Soon after, the Philadelphia 76ers picked the center as the 50th overall of the 2021 draft.

Following this, Petrusev made his Summer League debut, where the team won against the Dallas Mavericks. But Petrusev never got much playing time with the franchise for whatever duration he was with them. As a result, he continued playing overseas basketball with his second stint coming with EuroLeague champions, Anadolu Efes (season 2021-22).    

The 76ers only signed the Serbian player after his 2022-23 season appearance for his hometown club, Crvena Zvezda. The big opportunity for the 6’11” was finally there, or was it? Notably, although the franchise signed Filip Petrusev, he only played one game with the team before they traded him to the LA Clippers.

“Literally, I had nothing to do with it, it was some numbers and some other things around the contract that got me traded… That’s how it is in the NBA when superstars move from team to team, there is a lot of collateral damage if you can say that, and I was one of them,” he said of the move.

Filip Petrusev’s life after the NBA

Notably, after the Clippers acquired the Serbian player, they further traded him to the Sacramento Kings. It seems the NBA teams just could not figure out where Filip fit with them considering even the Kings waived him after a single-game appearance.

“In the NBA, when in the middle of the season you move as a young and unproven player to another team, it is very difficult to impose yourself… If that team is full and ready, as in my case it was in Sacramento, you don’t have time to prove yourself and find a place,” he told Mozzart Sport.

The 6’11” player eventually found his place with the Greek team, Olympiacos, with a 3-year contract. But more importantly, he found a spot on the Serbian team’s Olympic roster for the 2024 Olympics, alongside 3x NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in the five exhibition games, Filip Petrusev proved to be quite impressive.

One of his stronger performance came against Greece when he put up a 15-point, 8-rebound game and then an 11-point game against USA, whom he is set to face in the first game on the big stage. That certainly is a growth from Petrusev’s 5 points, 4 rebounds across 19 minutes average in the Summer League.

Stay tuned for more such updates. Join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.