Dragan Bender

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Basketball player
Dragan Bender
Dragan Bender (2) .JPG
Player information
birthday 17th November 1997 (age 22)
place of birth Čapljina , Bosnia and Herzegovina
size 213 cm
Weight 113 kg
position Power Forward / Center
NBA draft 2016 , 4th pick , Phoenix Suns
Club information
society Golden State Warriors
league NBA
Jersey number 10
Clubs as active
000002013 KK Split 2013–2014 KK Kaštela 2014–2016 Maccabi Tel Aviv 2014–2015 → Ironi Ramat Gan 2016–2019 Phoenix Suns 2019–2020 Milwaukee Bucks 2019–2020 → Wisconsin Herd Since 2020 Golden State WarriorsCroatiaCroatia
CroatiaCroatia
IsraelIsrael
IsraelIsrael
United StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
0United StatesUnited States
National team
Since 02017CroatiaCroatia Croatia

Dragan Bender (born November 17, 1997 in Čapljina , Bosnia and Herzegovina ) is a Croatian basketball player who is under contract with the Golden State Warriors in the North American professional league NBA . He was considered one of the greatest European talents in the mid-2010s, but has not been able to meet the high expectations since then.

Career

Start time

Bender was born on the Herzegovinian-Croatian border in Čapljina, Herzegovina, but later moved with his family to Split . He started playing basketball at the age of 12, where he was discovered at an academy directed by Nikola Vujčić . Vujčić has since promoted Bender's athletic development. Bender modeled his game on Toni Kukoč .

At the age of 15, Bender made his professional debut at KK Split . The following season he moved to KK Kaštela and played in the second Croatian league. In 2014, Bender moved to the top European club Maccabi Tel Aviv , who were managed by Vujčić. However, he was loaned to Ironi Ramat Gan, where he scored 9.7 points and 7.4 rebounds on average in 28 games.

He returned to Tel Aviv in 2015, for which he played regularly in the 2015/16 season and won the Israeli Cup with Tel Aviv. Because of his talent, many NBA scouts became aware of him, so Bender decided to register for the NBA draft .

NBA

Bender was selected 4th in the 2016 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns , making him the second highest pick in Sun history after Armen Gilliam (1987), as well as the highest Croatian pick of all time. Suns manager Ryan McDonough also confirmed that Bender will move to the NBA immediately and play for the Suns in the NBA Summer League .

In his first year with the Suns, Bender only played 43 games and averaged 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds. His second NBA year was only slightly better with 6.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. In general, however, Bender could not meet the expectation.

National team

Bender played for the youth national teams of Croatia. In 2014 he took part in the U18 European Championship with the Croatian U18 and won the bronze medal.

Web links

Commons : Dragan Bender  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dragan Bender: Future NBA star is a REAL talent ( Memento from June 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Meet 17-Year-Old European Dragan Bender, Who Could Be 2016's Kristaps Porzingis
  3. ↑ International Prospects Bender and Gentile Impress in American Tour ( Memento from June 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ The future of basketball looks a lot like Croatia's Dragan Bender
  5. ↑ Unlikely scenario: Suns get both Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss
personal data
SURNAME Bender, Dragan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Croatian basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1997
PLACE OF BIRTH Čapljina , Bosnia and Herzegovina