Predrag "Saša" Danilović ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг "Саша" Даниловић, ; born February 26, 1970), usually referred to in English as Sasha Danilović, is a Serbian professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
executive and former player, considered one of the best European
shooting guard
The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...
s of the 1990s. Danilović was the
EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 1992, was voted
Mister Europa Player of the Year in 1998, and was
Italian League MVP the same year.
Beginning in 2007, Danilović served as the president of
Partizan, the club with which he spent six years as a player during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 2015, he resigned from the position. On December 15, 2016, Danilović became the president of the
Basketball Federation of Serbia (KSS).
Early life and career
Born in
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
to a family of
Herzegovinian Serbs (father Milan from the
Orašje Zubci village near
Trebinje
Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica river in the region of East Her ...
and mother Vuka from the
Kukričje village near
Bileća),
Danilović grew up in the
Alipašino polje neighbourhood near the
RTV Sarajevo
BHRT (Bosnian-Herzegovinian Radio Television; ''Bosnian language, Bosnian: Bosanskohercegovačka radio-televizija; Croatian language, Croatian: Bosanskohercegovačka radio-televizija; Serbian language, Serbian: Босанскохерцегова ...
main building. Many of his childhood summers and winters were spent in the villages of his father and mother, and in the town of Trebinje where he had aunts and uncles.
A tall and lanky kid, Danilović excelled at a variety of sports, including football, speed skating, and street basketball.
Already showing promise at
streetball, in 1984, the fourteen-year-old began playing organized basketball in
KK Bosna's youth setup under youth coach Mladen "Makso" Ostojić. The player's talent was immediately evident and it didn't take long before he started receiving attention from bigger Yugoslav clubs such as
KK Partizan
Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...
whose assistant coach
Duško Vujošević
Duško Vujošević ( sr-Cyrl, Душко Вујошевић; born 3 March 1959) is a Serbian former basketball Coach (basketball), coach. He is currently active as coach consultant of the Montenegrin ABA League club KK Studentski centar, Studen ...
was alerted to the youngster's talents by the team's point guard
Željko Obradović
Željko Obradović ( sr-cyrl, Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, ; born 9 March 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball Coach (basketball), coach and former professional player who is the head coach for KK Partizan, Partizan of the ...
who had spotted Danilović during summer 1985 at a Yugoslav intra-
republic
A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
youth basketball tournament on
Mount Zlatibor. Young Danilović played for a select team of players representing
SR Bosnia-Herzegovina at the tournament.
By late 1985, Vujošević started courting the fifteen-year-old. Getting Danilović and his parents to agree to a move to Belgrade proved to be the easy part; the real challenge was getting his club KK Bosna to sign off on the transfer. Danilović wasn't under a professional contract with the Sarajevo club, however, according to
Yugoslav Basketball Federation (KSJ) rules, being a youth system prospect, he needed his club's permission to complete the move. In Danilović's own words: "Bosna club management weren't too keen on me at all while I was there; they had even been planning to loan me out to other Sarajevo-area clubs, which I didn't want at all. But then Vujošević started sniffing around, and they suddenly wanted to keep me. Also, Bosna club president
Mirza Delibašić
Mirza Delibašić (9 January 1954 – 8 December 2001) was a Bosnian professional basketball player and coach.
Delibašić was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2008, he ...
and Partizan vice-president
Dragan Kićanović
Dragan Kićanović (; born 17 August 1953) is a Serbian and Yugoslav retired professional basketball player.
A tall shooting guard, Kićanović played in the 1970s and 1980s, and is considered to be one of the best European players and scorers ...
were close friends going back to their playing days, so that created additional awkwardness and the whole thing dragged out for a while".
Since Bosna didn't want to let him go, by the summer of '86 Danilović and Partizan decided to act unilaterally to move the player to Belgrade, knowing full well he'd have to sit out a year before taking part in official competitions. The move marked the beginning of a long friendship and professional association between Danilović and Vujošević, with the twenty-eight-year-old coach initially acting as a mentor to the sixteen-year-old player. By December 1986 Vujošević had moved up in the
Partizan club hierarchy, becoming head coach in place of the fired
Vladislav Lučić while young Danilović trained by himself and with the first team. Due to the unfortunate administrative situation, Danilović could only practice with Partizan players, which he did vigorously and assiduously, up to 7 or 8 hours per day. He stated in later interviews that it wasn't until his arrival at Partizan that he started training seriously. His living arrangements were provided for by the club; they put him up in a room at the
JNA Stadium that he shared with youngster teammates
Oliver Popović and Popović's brother. Furthermore, in accordance with his parents' wishes, the club ensured he also pursued his full-time secondary education by getting enrolled in the streamlined
Petar Drapšin Technical High School.
However, unable to make the classes due to frequent, lengthy practices, he soon switched to part-time education at the streamlined touristic high school.
Discussing his first days in Belgrade and arrival at a new club, Danilović later said:
Simultaneously KK Partizan tried to obtain permission to officially register their new player while Bosna for their part launched a claim against the player with KSJ, which ruled in their favour, and young Danilović had another year added to his prohibition on playing for any age bracket within Partizan's system.
Faced with new developments over the length of his ban, in the summer of 1987, seventeen-year-old Danilović moved to
Cookeville, Tennessee, enrolling at
Cookeville High School where he was a basketball, track, and water polo star coming in second place to Daren Matthews at the school meet. However, only seven months later, in February 1988, he went back to Belgrade.
Coming back to SFR Yugoslavia from the United States, Danilović resumed practicing with Partizan, though still unable to play in official games with them.
His living arrangements also changed; the club moved him to Hotel Putnik in
New Belgrade
New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...
for a short time before eventually putting him up in an apartment in
Blok 45 that he shared with Popović. In summer 1988, Danilović was included in the Yugoslavia under-18 national team that competed at the
European Championship for Juniors on home soil in
Titov Vrbas and
Srbobran. Coached by his mentor Vujošević and playing alongside promising Yugoslav juniors
Arijan Komazec,
Žan Tabak
Žan Tabak (born 15 June 1970) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is now serving as the head coach for Trefl Sopot of the PLK. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achievemen ...
,
Rastko Cvetković
Rastko Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Растко Цветковић; born 22 June 1970) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. Standing at , he played as a Center (basketball), center. He is a son of the famous Serbian basketball player Vladi ...
, etc., Danilović led the team to the gold medal.
Club career
KK Partizan
1988–89 season: Korać Cup & Yugoslav Cup winners, losing the Yugoslav league finals
In the summer of 1988, Danilović's two-year ban finally expired and the player was free to suit up for Partizan. Already familiar with the players he had been practicing with for more than a year, the 18-year-old joined a roster laden with talent at all positions – 21-year-old point guard
Saša Đorđević, 22-year-old forward
Žarko Paspalj who could play both the three and four positions, 22-year-old small forward
Ivo Nakić, versatile 20-year-old center
Vlade Divac, and his 21-year-old backup
Miroslav Pecarski as well as a pair of experienced 28-year-olds: backup point guard
Željko Obradović
Željko Obradović ( sr-cyrl, Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, ; born 9 March 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball Coach (basketball), coach and former professional player who is the head coach for KK Partizan, Partizan of the ...
and backup center
Milenko Savović
Milenko Savović (18 July 1960 – 1 March 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player. For most of his career, he was the captain of KK Partizan.
Savović died from COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious d ...
. Starting small forward
Goran Grbović (who often also played the shooting guard position) left the club for
Oximesa that summer, opening up space for the incoming Danilović. Coming off a season in which they made the
EuroLeague Final Four (eliminated by Maccabi in the semi-final) and lost to emerging
Jugoplastika in the
Yugoslav League playoff final series, the young Partizan team was looking to reclaim the domestic league title.
Young Danilović immediately got big minutes at shooting guard, registering a promising debut campaign, especially excelling at defense
while contributing a modest 5.6 points per game on offense (123 points over 21 league appearances).
Partizan finished the
regular season
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...
in first place with a 16–6 record, the same as
Jugoplastika, but with a better point differential, meaning the Belgrade club would have home-court advantage in the playoffs.
Winning both cup competitions that season – the
FIBA Korać Cup
The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...
and the
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...
— came as a great confidence boost for the young squad. The two trophies came in quick succession during mid-March 1989 – on Thursday, March 16, Partizan went to
Cantù
Cantù (; Brianzöö: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza.
History
The name could stem from that of the Canturigi, a population of I ...
for the first leg of the Korać Cup final away versus
Wiwa Vismara, losing by 13 points with Danilović getting the starting assignment and registering 10 points,
followed up immediately by a trip to
Maribor
Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...
to play Jugoplastika in the Yugoslav Cup final on Sunday, March 19, winning 87–74, before returning home for the return leg of the Korać Cup final at home in
Hala sportova on Wednesday, March 22, and winning by 19 to undo their first-leg deficit and take the trophy. Danilović, this time coming off the bench, again contributed with 10 key points in the return leg,
getting his name on his second major trophy within three days.
Back on the domestic league front, in the playoff semi-final, Partizan easily eliminated crosstown rivals
Crvena Zvezda, setting up the finals rematch with Jugoplastika of the
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...
in which they had just triumphed. The best-of-three final series started in Belgrade, but right away Partizan lost the home-court advantage by dropping the opening game 73–74. The series shifted to Split where Jugoplastika won 75–70, beating Partizan to the league championship for the second straight season.
1989–90 season: broken leg
A testament to his brilliant debut season, in the summer of 1989 Danilović got called up for the Yugoslav national team training camp by head coach
Dušan Ivković ahead of
EuroBasket 1989, eventually making the final 12-man squad where he played alongside club teammates Divac and Paspalj. Coming back to Partizan later that summer, the roster went through major changes as both Divac and Paspalj left after signing NBA contracts, with the Lakers and Spurs, respectively, point guard Đorđević served out his mandatory
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...
(JNA) stint thus missing most of the season,
and head coach Vujošević left for Spanish club
Oximesa from
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
, taking veteran center Savović with him.
Reba Ćorković, who had previously coached the club for two stint - during the mid-1970s and then in the early 1980s —winning two domestic league titles, in
1975–76 and
1980–81 seasons - returned as head coach.
Playing with a depleted roster, the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
turned out to be a write-off as it quickly became clear this Partizan squad was no match for tougher Yugoslav clubs. Their deficiencies were especially evident at center as Pecarski, who in the absence of Divac was forced into playing big minutes, was often outplayed by the opposition's big man. Partizan finished the season in 8th place with a 9–13 record, missing the playoffs – the club's worst league finish in nineteen years. They didn't fare much better in the Yugoslav Cup or
FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup
The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the European professional club basketball system, second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winn ...
, finishing both competitions at the quarterfinal stage. It wasn't much better for Danilović individually, either: after steadily improving performanced started the season off strongly, he suffered an season-ending broken leg after only 11 games,
posting 14.3ppg.
The injury also kept him out of contention for inclusion in the Yugoslavia national team roster at the
1990 World Championship.
1990–91 season: return from injury, another Yugoslav league finals loss
Using his by-now-famous work ethic, twenty-year-old Danilović focused on rehabilitating his broken leg to regain game fitness for the start of the
1990–91 season.
Meanwhile, the team went through significant changes with head coach Ćorković let go and eventually replaced by Danilović's mentor Vujošević who thus returned to the club after a largely unsuccessful episode in Spain. Another returnee with a sub-par season behind him was old favourite Paspalj, back after only a season with the Spurs. With Partizan's main title contender, reigning European and Yugoslav champions KK Split going through a coaching change with their head coach
Boža Maljković accepting
Barça's lucrative offer, in addition to center
Dino Rađa
Dino Rađa (alternatively Radja, ; born 24 April 1967) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup champ ...
's lucrative move to Italy, the reinforced Partizan roster seemed poised to finally overtake its biggest rival of the last few years.
With fully recovered shooting guard Danilović confidently sharing Partizan's
backcourt with point guard Saša Đorđević, the team finished the regular season in second with an 18–4 record behind KK Split's 19–3. Now an integral part of the team, Danilović contributed 13.9 points per game over the course of the season.
In late June 1992, Danilović entered the
NBA draft
The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...
where he was taken in the second round by
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...
as the 43rd overall pick. He eventually decided to stay in Europe, signing with sports agent Mira Poljo, an established agent with good connections in Italy through the Interperformances sports agency.
She soon referred him to her colleague
Luciano Capicchioni. Danilović eventually signed a lucrative contract with
Knorr Bologna paying him approximately $900,000 per season.
Virtus Bologna
Arriving in the Italian city of Bologna, with the club Virtus and with an aura of the EuroLeague champion and
EuroLeague Final Four MVP, big things were expected of 22-year-old Danilović. Earlier that summer, the club went through an ownership change with businessman
Alfredo Cazzola acquiring it.
1992–93 season: Italian champions, Euroleague struggles
Coached by
Ettore Messina and playing alongside point guard
Roberto Brunamonti
Roberto Brunamonti (born 14 April 1959 in Spoleto) is a retired Italian professional basketball player and coach. At a height of tall, he played at the point guard position. He was among the 105 player nominees for the 50 Greatest EuroLeague ...
and a center line of
Bill Wennington and
Augusto Binelli, Danilović led the team to the top of the standings in the
regular season
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...
with a 24–6 record, ahead of former teammate
Saša Đorđević's
Philips Milano and reigning league champions
Benetton Treviso, led by
Toni Kukoč, before sweeping through the playoffs without a single loss, overcoming
Olimpia Pistoia,
Clear Cantù, and finally Kukoč's Treviso in the playoff final series to win the
Italian League title in impressive style. Dueling with his old Yugoslav League nemesis, Danilović got the better of Kukoč this time. Establishing himself as Virtus's undisputed leader, Danilović averaged a combined 23.7 points per game over the course of the regular season and playoffs.
In contrast to the domestic league,
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...
success proved elusive. The
campaign started in early October, but it was the opening
group stage
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
game on October 29, 1992, that brought Danilović an uncomfortable away trip to play against
Cibona in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
. He thus became the very first Serb to play a competitive game in the newly independent
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
after the
breakup of Yugoslavia
After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...
while the
wars in the former Yugoslavia continued. Rattled by playing in an extremely hostile atmosphere, Danilović had a poor shooting night making 5 of 15 field goals, good for only 12 points as Virtus lost by 16. Talking about the Zagreb experience, later in 1996, Danilović said: "Traveling to the game I assumed there would be issues, but I certainly didn't expect that much hate. Eight thousand people showed up just to insult a Serb. Getting through that game was not easy at all for me and you can tell from my stats. Even their player
Franjo Arapović as well as their head coach
Aco Petrović were hostile before the game even started wanting to hurl abuse at me, but I managed to put them in their place once we got out on the court. Also I think the two of them realized they had a rematch to play in Bologna in a few months so they didn't want to antagonize me too much".
In the rematch at home in January 1993, an inspired Danilović led the way with 9 of 12 field goal shooting and 23 points as Virtus jumped out to an early lead, and building on the early advantage to win by 40. Making it out of the
group stage
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
in the last qualifying spot with a 6–6 record meant that in their
quarter-final best-of-three series Virtus would face the top-placed team from the other group – the formidable
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
squad led by
Arvydas Sabonis. Virtus got blown out by Real, losing the first game at
PalaDozza
PalaDozza is an indoor sporting arena located at Piazza Azzarita Manfredi 8, in Bologna, Italy. It was named after Giuseppe Dozza, the long-time communist mayor of Bologna, who served from 1945 to 1966. In Italy, the arena is frequently nickname ...
by 20 points with Danilović scoring 4 points, while five days later in Madrid, Real finished the job with another convincing victory, this time by 21 points.
1993–94 season: Another league title
In summer 1993, coach Messina left the club to take the head coaching position at the
Italian national team with returning coach Alberto Bucci coming in as his replacement at Bologna. The club got a new naming-rights sponsor, non-alcoholic
Buckler Beer, as it waited to move into the new arena that was still under construction. The roster largely remained the same; the only notable player personnel changes were the loss of Wennington, who returned to the NBA's Chicago Bulls, and the arrival of former NBA player
Cliff Levingston from
PAOK
PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...
. With Danilović's contributions to the success of Virtus, he, together with his agent Luciano Capicchioni, also began looking at the NBA as an option again, but eventually decided to stay put with Bologna, at least for the immediate future.
The new season, 1993–94, mostly mirrored the previous one as it quickly became clear that no club was a match for Virtus in the Italian League. Jumping to the top of the standings with five straight wins to open the season, they never relinquished first place until the end, finishing the regular season with an identical 24–6 record from the previous campaign. Well settled in Italy and deemed ''lo Zar'' (the Tzar) and ''Zar Freddo'' (the Cold Tzar) by the Italian sports media for his prowess and cool demeanour under pressure, on the court as well as his catlike inscrutability off it, Danilović continued to lead the team. In December 1993, approximately midway through the season, Virtus moved into its newly built 8,650-seat arena
PalaMalaguti (which now seats 11,000), located outside of the city centre in
Casalecchio di Reno.
Miami Heat
Despite being selected by the
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...
with the 43rd pick overall in the
1992 NBA draft, Danilović continued playing in Europe for three more seasons before debuting in the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA). In the meantime, in November 1994, his rights were traded to the
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...
as part of a deal that sent 25-year-old
Billy Owens to the Heat while the Warriors got 29-year-old center
Rony Seikaly. In mid-June 1995, Danilović signed a four-year contract with Miami worth just over US$8 million.
To accommodate signing Danilović, the Heat decided to trade
Harold Miner to Cleveland in exchange for second-round draft picks and future considerations, thus freeing up space under NBA's
salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...
.
Several months later, one day before the scheduled start of the regular season, Miami pulled off a blockbuster trade with the
Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...
, sending the Heat's franchise player
Glen Rice along with starting center
Matt Geiger
Matthew Allen Geiger (born September 10, 1969) is an American former professional National Basketball Association (NBA) player who played at the center position.
College career
Geiger played for Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida ...
and point guard
Khalid Reeves to the Hornets in exchange for their star player
Alonzo Mourning, along with reserves
Pete Myers and
LeRon Ellis.
During his two NBA seasons (
1995
1995 was designated as:
* United Nations Year for Tolerance
* World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War
This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
–
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
), Danilović averaged 12.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game.
1995–96 season: making the starting five, wrist injury layoff
Danilović debuted for the Heat on Saturday, November 4, 1995, the opening day of the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
, as a starter at the shooting guard position alongside
Bimbo Coles,
Billy Owens,
Kevin Willis
Kevin Alvin Willis (born September 6, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player mostly known for playing with the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 7-foot power forward/ center. Excluding playe ...
, and
Alonzo Mourning. He contributed a team-high 16 points, helping his team beat the
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...
85–71 before getting ejected towards the end of the game for an altercation with Cleveland's
Chris Mills.
The incident that saw both players thrown out of the game occurred late in fourth quarter, when Mills hit Danilović with a flying elbow to the chin as Danilović was cutting across the baseline, to which Danilović responded by elbowing Mills in the back of his head, to which Mills then reacted with a right hook to Danilović's jaw, leaving him with a cut lip that required nine stitches outside his mouth and three more inside.
After the game, Danilović said he was just getting back at Mills after being hit, while Mills claimed Danilović had been playing dirty all game long.
Both players were subsequently fined and suspended by the league – Mills received a one-game suspension and US$10,000 fine while Danilović also got suspended for one game for retaliation as well as a $3,500 fine.
Despite receiving criticism over what some considered overly aggressive play, the Heat opened the season with an 11–3 record playing a starting five of Coles, Danilović, Owens, Willis, and Mourning.
Just as Danilović began hitting his shooting stride in December 1995, averaging 20 points per game in the four contests between December 6–12, 1995,
including a season-high 30 points away at
Phoenix,
his season was disrupted by injury. On December 14, 1995, two days after appearing in the away loss at
Golden State during which he scored 15 points he fell and aggravated an injury first sustained during his time in Italy. He was consequently placed on the team's injured list with right wrist issues that looked to be minor initially. As an injury he had played through for three years, Danilović was confident it would be overcome by treatment methods he was well-accustomed to at this point.
However, when the swelling persisted while his attempts to rehabilitate his wrist through therapy failed, it became apparent that the injury was more serious this time, requiring attention of a specialist. Danilović's frustration at being on the sidelines with an injury that showed no signs of improving became evident on December 23, 1995. During halftime of an away game at Charlotte that he watched in street clothes from the bench, he was signing autographs near the tunnel leading to the locker rooms when an abusive fan began verbally haranguing him; Danilović reacted by confronting the fan physically and had to be restrained by Heat executive
Randy Pfund. At South Miami Hospital on January 2, 1996, hand specialist Dr. Ann Ouelette performed surgery on Danilović's right hand to repair a non-union of the
scaphoid bone
The scaphoid bone is one of the carpal bones of the wrist. It is situated between the hand and forearm on the thumb side of the wrist (also called the lateral or radial side). It forms the radial border of the carpal tunnel. The scaphoid b ...
.
The surgery was successful, but with his hand in a cast and the recovery process expected to last 3–4 months, there were doubts about whether Danilović's season was over. In early February 1996, with his plan to be back in action for the final month of the regular season, Danilović was allowed to leave the team and go back to visit his family in Italy and FR Yugoslavia. During Danilović's layoff, the Heat completely overhauled their roster including their early-season starting lineup. On February 23, 1996, the team made three trades on the same day, bringing in
Tim Hardaway and
Chris Gatling from Golden State for Bimbo Coles and Kevin Willis, then getting
Walt Williams and
Tyrone Corbin from Sacramento for Billy Owens and Kevin Gamble, and finally acquiring
Tony Smith from Phoenix for
Terrence Rencher.
The projections of Danilović' return from injury at the beginning of April 1996 proved overly optimistic as he came bacķ a bit later - on April 21, 1996, at home versus Atlanta, the Heat's last game of the
regular season
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...
. Very rusty after four months on the sidelines during which he missed 62 games, Danilović, who had in the meantime also lost his starting spot to
Rex Chapman, put up a modest 8 points during 25 minutes of action off the bench on 3 for 9 shooting from the field that included
airballing his first shot back after the injury layoff and coming up well short on his first 3-point shot as Miami lost 92–104.
The Heat ended the season with 42–40 record, qualifying for the
playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
as the eighth-placed team in the Eastern Conference where they would face the juggernaut
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
's
Chicago Bulls team that had lost only 10 games the entire season.
Making his NBA playoff debut only five days after coming back from months-long injury layoff, Danilović started on the bench as coach Riley retained Chapman as his starting shooting guard. The Serb had another poor post-injury outing, scoring only 3 points in 22 minutes on 1 for 3 from the field as Miami got blown out 102–85 by the Bulls. Two days later, game two of the series brought a much improved performance by Danilović who scored a team-high 15 points off the bench in 23 minutes; however, the Heat suffered an even worse blowout, this time by 31 points. The series then shifted to Miami, and the rampant Bulls converted on their first opportunity to end the series, beating the Heat easily for the third time in a row, 112–91, as Danilović, playing reduced minutes, scored 7 points.
Return to Virtus
In early June 1997, after getting offered a US$6 million net income three-year contract from his old club Virtus, Danilović decided to end his time in the NBA, two years short of completing his 4-year contract, thus forfeiting $4.9 million in NBA salary. On April 23, 1998, Danilović won his second
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...
, defeating
AEK in Barcelona.
While on May 31, Virtus took its 14th national title in five games against
Teamsystem Bologna. With 20 seconds to go anad Fortitudo leading by 4, Danilović made a three-point shot while being fouled by
Dominique Wilkins, completing a four point play. Than Virtus went on to win the game in overtime. The 1998 final between Virtus and Fortitudo is widely considered the greatest in the history of Italian basketball, with two of the teams on the continent playing in the same city.
The following season, Virtus won its 7th Italian Cup but lost in the EuroLeague final against
Žalgiris of
Tyus Edney and was eliminated in the semi-finals for the national championship. Under Cazzola's presidency and thanks to the leadership of Danilović and coach Messina, the 1990s were considered Virtus' "
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
" with four national titles, two Italian Cups, a Cup Winners' Cup and a EuroLeague, making them one of the most high-profile and successful teams in Europe. At the end of the following season, in October 2000, Danilović surprised many by announcing his retirement from professional basketball.
Career statistics
EuroLeague
, -
, style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;",
1991–92†
, style="text-align:left;",
Partizan
, 19 , , ? , , 29.8 , , .555 , , .470 , , .747 , , 4.5 , , 1.6 , , 2.2 , , .0 , , 19.4 , , ?
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1992–93
, style="text-align:left;" rowspan=3,
Virtus Bologna
Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna.
The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...
, 15 , , ? , , 33.8 , , .548 , , .341 , , .747 , , 3.6 , , 1.1 , , 1.7 , , .0 , , 18.7 , , ?
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1993–94
, 14 , , ? , , 33.0 , , .497 , , .327 , , .843 , , 3.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.4 , , .0 , , 20.0 , , ?
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1994–95
, 17 , , ? , , 33.8 , , .535 , , .349 , , .807 , , 2.8 , , 1.6 , , 1.9 , , .0 , , style="background:#CFECEC;", 22.1 , , ?
, -
, style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;",
1997–98†
, style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Virtus Bologna
, 21 , , ? , , 36.9 , , .467 , , .304 , , .747 , , 3.8 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 17.5 , , ?
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1998–99
, 14 , , ? , , 35.2 , , .500 , , .300 , , .845 , , 1.6 , , 1.9 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 16.9 , , ?
, -class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 100 , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ?
National team career
With the senior
Yugoslav national basketball team, Danilović won the gold medal at both the
1989 EuroBasket and the
1991 EuroBasket. With the senior
FR Yugoslav national basketball team, he won the gold medal at both the
1995 EuroBasket
The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...
and the
1997 EuroBasket
The 1997 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1997, was the 30th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, giving a ber ...
. He was also a member of the silver medal-winning FR Yugoslav team at the
1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.
Titles
*
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...
: 2 (with
Partizan:
1991–92 and
Virtus Bologna
Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna.
The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...
:
1997–98)
*
Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include:
* Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people
* Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager
* Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player
* Vitomir ...
: 1 (with
Partizan: 1988–89)
*
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...
: 1 (with
Partizan: 1988–89, 1991–92)
*
Yugoslav League: 1 (with
Partizan: 1991–92)
*
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...
: 1 (with
Partizan: 1991–92)
*
Italian League: 4 (with
Virtus Bologna
Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna.
The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...
: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98)
*
Italian Cup
Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since.
Juventus is the competition's most successf ...
: 1 (with
Virtus Bologna
Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna.
The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...
: 1998–99)
Administrative career
Partizan vice-president (2000–2004)
In October 2000, shortly after retiring from playing professionally, Danilović became co-vice president of his old club
KK Partizan
Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...
alongside
Žarko Paspalj,
Dražen Dalipagić
Dražen "Praja" Dalipagić (; 27 November 1951 – 25 January 2025) was a Serbian professional basketball player and head coach. He was selected the best athlete of Yugoslavia in the year 1978, and is one of the most decorated athletes in Yugos ...
, and Ivica Divac, working under the also newly named club president
Vlade Divac. The appointment came about on initiative by the club's about to be deposed president
Ivica Dačić during the time of political upheaval in Serbia in the wake of the
Slobodan Milošević overthrow. Seeing that various state-owned companies and community property were being taken over in a dubious manner during the power vacuum that resulted from régime change, Dačić (the club's outgoing president and, more importantly, a suddenly marginalized politician who, due to his association with Milošević, was forced to leave his post at the club) saw it prudent to bring the club's two former greats as a safeguard against the same happening to KK Partizan.
Since club president Divac was at the time still an active player in the NBA with
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...
, while nominal co-vice presidents Paspalj, Dalipagić, and Ivica Divac exhibited little interest in being involved in the club's day-to-day business, Danilović essentially became the main decision-maker at KK Partizan.
Inheriting a head coach,
Darko Russo, Danilović let him finish out the season before hiring old mentor and friend
Duško Vujošević
Duško Vujošević ( sr-Cyrl, Душко Вујошевић; born 3 March 1959) is a Serbian former basketball Coach (basketball), coach. He is currently active as coach consultant of the Montenegrin ABA League club KK Studentski centar, Studen ...
during summer 2001. Vujošević immediately started producing results, winning the league title in 2001–02, ending
KK Budućnost's three-year league championship run. It was the first of nine consecutive league trophies under his command. Though continually cash-strapped, under the command of Danilović, Divac, and sporting director
Dragan Todorić
Dragan Todorić (; born 27 July 1954) is a Serbian former professional basketball player and current adviser to the President of Partizan Belgrade. He is known for a rare achievement: taking part—either as a player or subsequently as part of th ...
, the club instituted a model of bringing up domestic young players from its own youth setup or smaller clubs in
Serbia and Montenegro
The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...
rather than relying on foreign imports. It proved a winner both on the court and business-wise as Partizan sold its best player in regular intervals (usually every summer) and then re-invested that money into the youth system or acquiring talented youngsters from smaller clubs while making sure that squad can function with other players stepping up. Under this model, in summer 2003
Miloš Vujanić was sold to
Fortitudo Bologna while the following summer 2004
Nenad Krstić
Nenad Krstić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Крстић, born July 25, 1983) is a Serbian basketball executive and former professional player.
Krstić represented and captained the Serbian national basketball team internationally. Standing at 2.12 m ...
got sold to
New Jersey Nets
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995
* "New" (Daya song), 2017
* "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
. The club managed to win the domestic league FR Yugoslavia/Serbia-Montenegro league year after year, ensuring a
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...
spot, which was essential for its bottom line.
Simultaneously, Danilović was very much against his club joining the regional
Adriatic League
The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...
. However, by 2004, Partizan was essentially forced into the regional competition because its Euroleague spot now depended on competing regionally rather than domestically. This also brought about change in the club's business model as in the summer of 2004 they brought in already established national team players 27-year-old
Dejan Milojević from
KK Budućnost and 29-year-old
Milan Gurović from
KK Vojvodina
Košarkaški klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Војводина, ), commonly referred to as KK Vojvodina or simply Vojvodina, is a professional basketball club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, and the major part of the Vojvod ...
to bolster the squad ahead of the start of
competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...
in Adriatic League. It would prove to be one of Danilović's last orders of business at the club as he soon left KK Partizan.
Partizan president (2007–2015)
In 2007 Danilović returned to KK Partizan, this time as president.
In late May 2007, following a
Serbian Basketball League game from the SuperLeague phase, between
KK Hemofarm and Partizan at
Vršac
Vršac ( sr-Cyrl, Вршац, ) is a city in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the city urban area had a population of 31,946, while the city administrative area had 45,462 inhabitants. It is located in the geographical ...
's
Millennium Centar, Danilović assaulted the referee Marko Juras. Dissatisfied over Juras' calls in the game that Partizan lost, thirty-seven-year-old KK Partizan president reportedly followed the twenty-nine-year-old referee into the referees' dressing room and proceeded to knock him to the floor, landing several punches. Juras filed a criminal complaint against Danilović as did the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In July 2007, Danilović got suspended by the Serbian Basketball Federation (KSS) from all basketball-related activity for two years, but two months later the punishment was reduced to a probationary period.
On August 24, 2015, he resigned from the president's position, after few years of financial troubles the club was going through.
Basketball Federation of Serbia president (2016–present)
On December 15, 2016, Danilović became the president of the
Basketball Federation of Serbia (KSS). On December 14, 2020, he was re-elected.
Personal life
Danilović is married to Svetlana Danilović, an
RTS sports reporter. The couple have three children, including
Olga, a professional tennis player.
He was also involved with Group Seven, a charity organization founded by seven Serbian basketball players.
On February 11, 2009, Danilović filed a lawsuit against Worldwide Associates (a limited-liability company based in
Carmel, Indiana and represented by
Rick Suder and George Grkinich) alleging investment fraud connected to $4 million he gave the company to manage. Previously, Grkinich had also been involved with Group Seven.
Stabbing incident
In the early morning hours of Saturday, May 18, 2013, forty-three-year-old Danilović was stabbed during a bar brawl in Belgrade, sustaining injuries to his
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...
,
arms, and
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...
, for which he underwent surgery at Belgrade's
Urgentni centar.
From the press reports,
KK Partizan
Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...
club president Danilović had been drinking and eating at the Kafanica bar, a
kafana-type hospitality establishment in the
Košutnjak neighbourhood, together with a party of friends including the bar's owner—Danilović's close friend, Branko "Fido" Filipović—before an altercation broke out around 2:20 am between Filipović and Danilović. Filipović reportedly
struck Struck is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Adolf Struck
Adolf Hermann Struck (1877–1911) was a German sightseer and writer. He is known for his Travel literature, travelogue ''Makedonische Fahrten'' and for surveying the ...
Danilović in the head with an
ashtray
An ashtray is a wikt:receptacle, receptacle for ash from cigarettes, cigars, and other smokable products. Ashtrays typically are made of fire-retardant material such as glass, heat-resistant plastic, pottery, metal, or rock (geology), stone. It ...
prompting someone from the bar to call an ambulance, which Danilović refused upon their arrival, sending them away. The fight between the two continued with Filipović now stabbing Danilović in the
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...
, and injured Danilović driving by himself to the hospital. Due to the nature of his injuries, considered "life-threatening", Danilović underwent emergency surgery before being placed in
intensive care
Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...
in stable condition. During the day Danilović was visited at the hospital by the
Serbian prime minister Ivica Dačić (incidentally Danilović's personal friend and predecessor at the KK Partizan club president post),
deputy prime minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
Aleksandar Vučić
Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...
and
sports minister Alisa Marić. Talking to the press afterwards, prime minister Dačić jokingly described the circumstances of Danilović's stabbing as "traditional Serbian quarrel between friends".
On May 20, 2013, after unsuccessfully trying to summon Branko Filipović for questioning, Serbian police issued a warrant for his arrest. Danilović was released from the hospital on May 26, 2013 and was then seen in public at the
Belgrade Airport awaiting the arrival of
Jovica Stanišić and
Franko Simatović, who had been acquitted at the
Hague Tribunal. After being on the run for more than two weeks, Filipović was arrested in Belgrade on June 2, 2013. Though initially
charging Filipović with "causing severe bodily harm with life-threatening injuries", the Serbian public prosecutor's office later upgraded his charge to "
attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...
".
During the trial, the role of Filipović's fiancée Sanja Ševović (who had been present at the bar the night of the stabbing) came under scrutiny, particularly the exact time she claimed to have left the bar. In February 2014, Filipović was sentenced in the Belgrade Higher Court to years in prison for the attempted murder of Danilović.
Having already spent nine months in prison detention, Filipović was released on the same occasion thus awaiting the sentence becoming legally-binding upon the completion of the appeals process for him to commence his jail time.
The case was appealed and, in May 2015, the Court of Appeals annulled the lower court sentence, ordering a re-trial. Initially set for late August 2015,
the re-trial began in mid-October 2015. Following court dates throughout 2016, 2017, and 2018, in early May 2018 Filipović and the Serbian public prosecutor office reportedly reached an
admission of guilt agreement awaiting the Higher Court confirmation. Several weeks later, in late May 2018, the Higher Court confirmed the agreement, sentencing Filipović to years in prison in addition to a four-year
conditional sentence
A conditional sentence is a sentence in a natural language that expresses that one thing is contingent on another, e.g., "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the sentence’s main clause is ''con ...
.
See also
*
List of Serbian NBA players
*
EuroBasket Records
References
External links
Official websiteItalian League Profile
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danilovic, Predrag
1970 births
Living people
Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Basketball players from Sarajevo
Serbia and Montenegro men's basketball players
Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States
Basketball players with retired numbers
Dallas Mavericks players
FIBA EuroBasket–winning players
Golden State Warriors draft picks
KK Partizan players
KK Partizan presidents
Lega Basket Serie A players
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Miami Heat players
NBA players from Serbia
Olympic medalists in basketball
Olympic silver medalists for Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Serbian basketball executives and administrators
Serbian expatriate basketball people in Italy
Serbian men's basketball players
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Shooting guards
Stabbing survivors
Virtus Bologna players
Yugoslav men's basketball players