24 years since Marko Milić was drafted

Wednesday, June 25 1997, will forever be a date, written with golden letters in the history of Slovenian basketball. On that day, Marko Milić was the first Slovenian player ever to be drafted at the NBA Draft, and he was a player of then Smelt Olimpija.

Six years after Slovenia declared its independence, a history of Slovenian basketball was written in North Carolina. Marko Milić was the 33^rd pick of the 1997 NBA Draft, and so, the first Slovenian ever stepped his feet in the National Basketball Association. His rights were then traded to the Phoenix Suns, and Milić played his first game on November 26 1997, against New Jersey.

“I was in a trans at my debut. In front of 20 thousand people, not a lot of things were clear to me. When I got to the court, I got the ball, and went straight to the basket for a layup or a dunk. I fell on Sam Cassell, and hugged him a little, as if I have just scored a game-winning basket. He looked at me, and was not sure, what was going on, as there was a 10-point difference between the teams, and the Slovenian rookie was hugging him. But I was excited, my heart was beating fast. It was lovely,” said Milić in one of the interviews about his debut.

In the NBA, Milić played in 44 games, and averaged 2.5 PPG, 0.7 RPG and 0.3 APG. He shot 56,0% from the field, and 42,9% from the three-point line. After the 1997/98 season, which was his first in the NBA, he returned to Europe, as there was a Lock Out in the league, and played for Fenerbahce, but then, he returned to Phoenix in the 1998/99 season. He played 11 games in that season. In 1999, Milić returned to then Union Olimpija, and spent the rest of his career playing outside of the NBA.