A full 33 years have passed since the tragic departure of the unforgettable Dražen Petrović, a giant of Croatian and world sport, one of our greatest sporting idols of all time. Each and every one of us will still remember today where we were and how we learned the news on that fateful June 7, 1993, the news of Dražen's tragic departure...

For more than three decades, questions have lingered that we haven't and, unfortunately, will never get answers to: would he really have come to Zagreb and Cibona at the end of his career as he himself had announced, would he have continued to hold the reins of our basketball even after his playing episode, been a leader off the court as he was on the court itself, how would Croatian basketball have developed with his charisma and how would our sport in general look today...

Those who had the fortune to follow Dražen, to grow up with his basketball, his games, to enjoy the sporting euphoria with which he bathed the city of Zagreb, in his dribbles, shots, exhibitions on the court, in his characteristic appearance with the "afro" hairstyle in the blue jersey with number ten on his back, had to ignite a passion for sport within themselves.

Today we too remember Dražen with melancholy. And we also remember his love for – Dinamo. Because Dražen was a great Dinamo supporter and proudly carried the membership card of the Maksimir club. The eighties were the era of creating the powerful European Cibona, a Zagreb sporting movement that culminated with two consecutive European champion titles in 1985 and 1986. On the wings of the incomparable Dražen, also a great Dinamo supporter, Cibona became a European brand as well. And both in the Sports Hall and on the Maksimir stands, both Cibona and Dinamo flags waved: two different names, two different sports, but in hearts and minds one soul and one club!

There's an interesting sequence that, on the first anniversary of Dražen's tragic departure, journalist Milorad Bibić wrote in the first issue of Basketball magazine, who has unfortunately also left us in the meantime. Bibić conveyed the words of Dražen's teammate from the national team, Dino Rađa:

"We were in Wroclaw at the European Championship qualifiers. Stojko and I were, of course, for Hajduk. Dražen was saying 'we have no chance because the boys will give us at least three goals'. Yes, Dražen supported Dinamo. All three of us were in the room. I decided to call you every ten minutes to hear how the score was moving, since we couldn't catch the radio broadcast. When Vlaović scored from the penalty and Dinamo took a 1:0 lead, Dražen was firing us up saying: 'Now the second one will come quickly!'. And when Vlaović scored the second goal from a penalty, Stojko and I died of fear. Dražen was teasing us: 'What's wrong Hajduk fans, you look a bit pale, are you feeling sick?!' I didn't call you anymore out of fear that you might accidentally say: 'Here, Vlaović has scored a third goal from a penalty!'"

All this was happening in the second leg of the Croatian Cup final where the Maksimir club was chasing a big deficit from the first match in which Hajduk won 4:1. However, after Vlaović's two goals, Ardian Kozniku reduced the score to a final 2:1 eight minutes before the end.

"Then Stojko and I exploded with joy. We grabbed Dinamo fan Dražen and threw him on the bed. Stojko and I destroyed him then, he didn't know what was happening... We wrapped him up, tied him up, from that unusual position on the bed he watched Stojko and me celebrate Hajduk's triumph against Dinamo in the Croatian Cup final."

Previously, Dinamo had secured the championship title for 1993, their first trophy in independent Croatia. Unfortunately, Dražen didn't live to see the title celebration itself. He left us five days after the Cup derby and six days before the last championship round.

Dražen, as journalist Neven Bertičević recounted, was also announcing his return to Zagreb and Cibona:

"He wanted to know everything, down to the last point. How did Cibona do, who scored the points? Cibona lived in Dražen Petrović's heart. 'I'll come back, I'll return one day. At least at the end of my career. A year, two years. To Cibona'."