Dejan Vasiljevic was born in Calgary (Canada) after his family fled war-torn Serbia in the 1990s. He later moved with his family to Melbourne at the age of six and shortly after began playing basketball with the Melbourne Tigers junior program.
Playing alongside other future NBL talent like Josh Giddey and Jack Purchase, it wasn’t long before he was spotted by national team scouts and accepted a scholarship to attend Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence.
During his time in Canberra, he played in the SEABL for Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence team and averaged 17 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game whilst shooting nearly 40% from the 3pt line. This included stellar efforts of 29 points and 5 rebounds against Ballarat, 28 points and 7 rebounds against Nunawading and 27 points and 3 rebounds against Bendigo.
It wasn’t long before a number of US colleges were lining up for Vasiljevics signature. Vasiljevic was recruited by Stanford, LSU, Louisville, and California, before deciding to play with at the University of Miami.
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The talented young guard just completed four-years at the University of Miami where he averaged 13.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his senior year. Making a name for himself for his impressive shooting from beyond the arc, Vasiljevic had a decorated college career finishing 17th in ACC history and 2nd among Hurricanes in career made 3-pointers.
Dejan Vasiljevic played his junior basketball with the Melbourne Tigers program before Vasiljevic graduated in 2020 band declared for the NBA Draft but with COVID-19 cancelling any opportunity for NBA teams to see players work out prior to the draft his stock plummeted.
Dejan returned home to Australia and after considering a number of European offers decided to play his first professional season in the NBL with the Sydney Kings.
He is currently averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists after 18 games and alongside former Melbourne Tigers teammate, Giddey is a top candidate for the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award.
Vasiljevic also represented Australia at a junior level, winning a silver medal at the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Dubai and the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Heraklion.
Dejan joined Dan Boyce on the podcast to break down his journey so far and his transitioning his game to the NBL
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Topics include;
- Dejan’s family heritage and how his family had to flee war-torn Serbia (2:00)
- Junior basketball memories playing for the Melbourne Tigers (6:00)
- A scholarship to the AIS (8:30)
- Playing for the University of Miami (10:00)
- How nominating for the 2020 NBA draft was different under COVID-19 protocols (19:00)
- NBA goals and why he signed a three-year deal with the Sydney Kings (20:00)
- The reasons why he chose the Kings over multiple other NBL squads for his rookie season (21:00)
- Playing for coach Adam Forde and what motivates him on the court (22:30)
- Thoughts on the NBL Rookie of the Year Award (24:00)
- Dejan’s biggest games in the NBL so far (26:30)
- What his role is with the Sydney Kings and how it’s changed throughout the year (28:00)
- Why his transition from college to the NBL was an easy one (30:00)
Australia junior team success (31:30) - Goals for playing for the Boomers (33:00)
- What teams does he love to play against the most (34:00)
- The biggest challenges and highlights in his career so far (35:00)
All of this and a whole lot more…
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
