Atlanta Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanovic received a major honor ahead of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, as the six-year NBA veteran has been revealed as the captain of Serbia's men's national basketball team.
This news comes on the heels of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, a two-time MVP that just led the Nuggets to their first championship in franchise history, being rumored as definitively declining to play for the Serbian national team in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. To that point, Bogdanovic's captaincy and a recent report from Dejan Stankovic of Mozzart Sports would seem to cement Jokic's status for the international basketball tournament.
“[Serbian national team head coach Svetislav] Pesic and the leaders of the KSS tried to change [Jokic's] decision,” Stankovic reports. “In the previous days…Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was in contact with Jokic, was also involved in the operation…however, there was no turning point.”
Bogdanovic, who turns 31 years old in August, has averaged 14.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game over the course of his career while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from 3-point range. Relatively consistent in his production, Bogdanovic is widely considered to be one of the more complete players in the NBA as well.
A first-round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Bogdanovic spent the first five seasons of as a pro (including two that preceded his draft date) playing in Serbia in Turkey. While playing for Serbia's Partizan in the EuroLeague, Bogdanovic averaged 5.0 points per game in his first season before breaking out with 14.8 points per game the next season.
He's also played for Serbia in two previous FIBA World Cup tournaments and the 2016 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal with Serbia in the Rio Olympics and the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
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