Bogdan Bogdanovic – whose rights were acquired by Sacramento this offseason – has yet to log any NBA minutes, but is demonstrating talent on the international stage.
Prior to his No. 6-ranked Serbian team’s appearance in the Olympics, the young guard has grown more and more popular as his game grows in Europe. The 23-year-old sharpshooter had a star named after him in Serbia earlier this year.
This past season, Bogdanovic recorded career highs in field goal percentage (41 percent) and three-point percentage (37 percent). Of the 28 games he appeared in this past season for Fenerbahçe, No. 7 started in 24 of them, averaging 27.6 minutes per game. His free-throw percentage of 79.7 percent is just slightly below his career high of 80 percent during his rookie year.
Most recently, the Belgrade native played in the Super 4 tournament – a qualifying for Brazil – and led with 71 points and 24 assists.
Now, Bogdanovic and Serbia are in the midst of Preliminary Round play, where he is averaging 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard totaled 19 points in the team’s opening win versus Venezuela, followed with 12 points on Monday in a narrow loss to Australia and registered 10 points in a last-second loss to France. More impressive than his shooting abilities, in which he’s connected on 50 percent of his three-point attempts, have been No. 7’s penchant to make plays off the ball, slashing into the lane, dishing to open shooters or finishing in traffic.
On Friday, the newest Kings guard matches up with the Sacramento’s two-time All-Star and the United States Men’s Basketball Team. It will be a perfect time for the soon-to-be NBA sharpshooter to showcase his abilities on the biggest stage yet in Preliminary Round play.
Prior to the matchup, USABMNT head coach Mike Krzyzewski noted Bogdan as “one of the great shooters,” and Serbia as a foe that is “tall and deep and they’ll be a huge challenge for us and we respect the heck out of them.”
