Mario Hezonja (27 years old and 2.03 meters) jumped into the NBA in 2015 as number 5 in the draft of that same summer. Five years later, in December 2020, the Memphis Grizzlies cut the Croatian, who returned to Europe. The Greek Panathinaikos was the first to host him in the Euroleague; then the Russian Unics Kazan would arrive in the 2021 summer market after failing to reach a renewal agreement with the Hellenic team.
His time in the North American League had more shadows than lights. Barcelona youth squad, Hezonja undertook the adventure in the NBA as one of the great pearls of European basketball. He had unlimited potential that in the United States they could not or did not know how to exploit. Neither in Magic nor in Knicks nor in Blazers managed to excel.
“I didn’t get the respect I deserved. Also, in my opinion, the NBA is more of a show than the game itself.”, assures the Russian media Tatar-inform Hezonja (via eurohoops)who took the road back with a resume of 330 games (69 starts) and an average of 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists in five seasons in the United States.
possible return
Its future is anchored in Europe. He rules out any kind of return to the NBA: “Do not”, he underlines when asked about a possible return. “There were a lot of things I didn’t like about it.”.
One of the main original sins raised in the debate about why many high-quality Europeans don’t make it across the Atlantic is because they leave too young. unripe. Without first having dominated the basketball where they were born. And Hezonja is not saved from entering that group… although he rules it out: “I don’t think I left too soon”, points out the Croatian, who played 64 games for Barcelona in the Endesa League in three seasons with the first team and 38 in the Euroleague… five less than he added after his return between Panathinaikos and Unics.