The road to NBA goes through ABA

ABA League clubs had 4 of their players selected at the NBA Draft 2016. And that is not all. Looking at all the professional basketball leagues outside USA, it is this region that has had the most players selected in the NBA Draft over the past 3 years!

The road to NBA definitely goes through ABA League! This region has always been famous for super talented basketball players, while many of them eventually left their mark across the Atlantic. Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Predrag Stojaković... Those are all players that are considered to be some of the best foreigners that have ever played in the NBA.

That is why the NBA teams pay special attention on our region during the season, as they do not want to miss some young fellow who might grow into the All-Star player one day. Anyway, the best proof of how much the NBA teams respect the ABA League and our region comes every year at the NBA Draft.

Looking at all the professional basketball leagues outside USA, it is this region that has had the most players selected in the NBA Draft over the past 3 years!

The numbers look like this - ABA League teams had 12 players selected by the NBA teams, then goes Endesa Liga (Spain) with 8 players, the third place belongs to LNB Pro A (France) with 7 players.

At the same time, Mega Leks has been far the most successful club in the world over the past 3 years, with 6 players selected in the NBA Draft! For example, it is twice as much as the second placed team Sevilla (Spain) which had 3 players selected during the same period of time.

Also, Mega Leks is the only club in the history of the NBA Draft that twice had 3 of their players selected by the NBA teams! In 2014, those were Nikola Jokić, Vasilije Micić and Nemanja Dangubić, while in 2016 those were Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Rade Zagorac and Ivica Zubac.

"It is definitely a big recognition for our club. There are so many strong teams in Europe, but none of them have managed to achieve the same thing as Mega Leks have. There is no doubt that the regional league has helped us a lot to reach this level. After all, the ABA League has far better quality than any of the national championship in this region, and being as such, ABA League is much more interesting to NBA scouts. Also, a strong competition helps young players to develop their skills on the right way," said Mega Leks head coach Dejan Milojević.

The story of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is especially interesting, as it confirms that foreign players are more and more keen on coming to ABA League in order to have better future. They all know that here they can play in a high-level basketball competition, that they can work with top basketball coaches and that they can feel perhaps the best game-atmosphere in Europe. And, they all know that ABA League can help them a lot in chasing their dream of playing in NBA.

Coaches. They definitely deserve a special notice. It is not necessary to emphasize that some of the best European coaches come from this region, while it is also very common that they receive the call from some NBA teams to join their coaching staff during the NBA Summer League.

This year, ABA League clubs will have 3 of their coaches working with NBA teams during the 2016 NBA Summer League - Dejan Milojević (Mega Leks), Damir Mulaomerović (Cibona) and Aleksandar Džikić (Partizan NIS).