The late Drazen Petrovic was a Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard he initially achieved success playing pro ball in Europe throughout the 1980s before joining the NBA in 1989. A star on multiple stages Petrovic earned two silver medals and one bronze in Olympic basketball a gold and a bronze in the FIBA World Cup a gold and a bronze in the FIBA EuroBasket and two Euroleague titles. He represented Yugoslavia and later Croatia. He was named Mr. Europa twice and in 1985 received the Golden Badge award for being the Best Athlete of Yugoslavia.

Seeking a bigger stage after starting his career in Europe Petrovic joined the NBA in 1989 as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. After mostly coming in off the bench that year Petrovic experienced a major breakthrough following a trade to the New Jersey Nets. While starting for the Nets he became one of the league's best shooting guards and was in the discussion of possibly being the league's best shooter ever. But Petrovic's career and life were cut short after he died tragically in an auto accident at the age of 28 on the AutoBahn in the German state of Bavaria. He was a passenger in the car. His uniform number 3 was retired by the Nets in 1993 and in 2002 he was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

This lot features Petrovic's 1990 Yugoslavia FIBA game-worn jersey from the gold medal-winning game (92-75) versus the Soviet Union. This marked the final World Championship the country of Yugoslavia would compete in before disbanding. The blue jersey sports an "Adidas [size] XL" tag in the collar with "Drazen Petrovic" written in fading black ballpoint. The label's edges have frayed noticeably. The mesh jersey shows ample game use throughout and its identifiers including uniform number "4" are screen pressed. A "Jugoslavija" patch is centered on the chest. Note: ESPN produced a 30-for-30 documentary entitled "Once Brothers" about the country's breakup and the escalating tensions it created between Petrovic and his fellow countrymen. Game footage from the highly acclaimed episode reveals some players wore jerseys sporting an extra logo patch on front. A close-up of Petrovic is featured on the 30-for-30 at both the 40:07 and 40:12 marks and it shows his jersey does not feature a patch in the gold medal game. However Yugoslavian teammate and 1990 FIBA Tournament MVP Tony Kukoc's jersey clearly has the additional patch. This is certainly an important piece of game-worn basketball memorabilia from a rising star who many felt was destined to reach greater heights in the NBA.