Drago Pašalić (; born June 23, 1984) is a Croatian former 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 ...

player. He is the current technical director of

Donar Thor (from ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Beside ...

. Standing at , he played both

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

positions. In the beginning of his career he played for the Croatian national team. He is a one-time Croatian League and two-time Dutch League champion.

Professional career

His first five years as a pro, Pašalić played with his hometown team,

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

. In the 2002–03 season, he won the Croatian Championship with the club. He was an early entry candidate in the

2004 NBA draft The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm ( EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur colle ...

but withdrew and became one again in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

but was not selected. On June 29, 2016, he signed with

Donar Groningen Donar, also known as Donar Groningen, is a professional basketball club based in Groningen, Netherlands. The club competes in the BNXT League and its home arena is MartiniPlaza, which has a seating capacity of 4,350 people. Founded in 1951, Do ...

of the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

. After the 2016–17 DBL regular season, he was named to the

All-DBL Team The Dutch Basketball League (DBL) All-Star Team, also known as All-DBL Team, is a team constituted by the main players in a season of the Dutch Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands. This team is based o ...

. In April 2017, Pašalić extended his contract with two more years. His contract was not renewed after the 2018–19 season. Pašalić won two DBL championships with Donar. On August 14, 2019, he has signed with

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a professional basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Sportcomplex 1574. Z ...

of the Dutch Basketball League. After the 2019–20 season was cancelled due to the

coronavirus outbreak The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in March 2020, Pašalić retired.

Executive career

In July 2021, Pašalić became the head of technical business of

Heroes Den Bosch Heroes Den Bosch is a Dutch professional basketball club based in 's-Hertogenbosch. The club plays in the BNXT League since 2021 and in the top basketball division in the Netherlands since 1972. Founded as EBBC in 1951, the club had several sponso ...

's youth academy. On March 15, 2022, Pašalić signed with

to become its full-time technical director starting from the 2022–23 season.

Personal

Pašalić has three children; two daughters, Kiara and Kinge, and a son, Ivan Pašalić. On September 30, 2020, it was announced Pašalić had suffered a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and compete ...

, 7 , , 6 , , 23.4 , , .525 , , .235 , , .833 , , 4.7 , , 0.4 , , 0 , , 0.6 , , 9.1 , , 5.6 , -class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 align=center , Career , , 7 , , 6 , , 23.4 , , .525 , , .235 , , .833 , , 4.7 , , 0.4 , , 0 , , 0.6 , , 9.1 , , 5.6 , -

Honours and titles

Club

Split * Croatian League: 2002–03 *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup The Croatian Water Polo C ...

: 2004 Donar *

: 2016–17, 2017–18 *

NBB Cup The Basketball Cup, for sponsorship reasons the TOTO Basketball Cup and formerly the NBB Cup (), is an annual cup competition for Netherlands, Dutch basketball teams organised by the Basketball Nederland. Every team in the Netherlands can partici ...

: 2016–17, 2017–18 * Dutch Supercup:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Individual

: 2016–17

References

External links

Draft Express profileEurobasket.com profileABA League profileTBLStat.net profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pašalić, Drago 1984 births Living people ABA League players BC Azovmash players Bilbao Basket players Centers (basketball) Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Croatian men's basketball players Donar (basketball club) players Dutch Basketball League players Hapoel Gilboa Galil players HKK Široki players KK Cibona players KK Split players KK Zadar players Liga ACB players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Croatia Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball Obradoiro CAB players P.A.O.K. BC players Power forwards Türk Telekom B.K. players Ülker G.S.K. basketball players ZZ Leiden players Al-Arabi SC basketball players 21st-century Croatian sportsmen