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Sixers’ Filip Petrusev Joins Serbian FIBA World Cup Prelim List

Filip Petrusev's busy summer continues with a invite on Serbia's World Cup preliminary list.
Justin Grasso|
Sixers’ Filip Petrusev Joins Serbian FIBA World Cup Prelim List
Sixers’ Filip Petrusev Joins Serbian FIBA World Cup Prelim List

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Philadelphia 76ers

It’s been a successful summer for Philadelphia 76ers center Filip Petrusev. After hoping to play in the NBA right after getting drafted, Petrusev bounced around a bit in Europe for some time.

Soon enough, he’ll play his rookie season in the NBA, as the Sixers officially inked the Serbian-born center to a standard NBA contract last week after he spent the previous season playing for Crvena Zvezda.

During the 2021 NBA Draft, the Sixers made Jaden Springer their first of three selections. In the second round, they double-dipped on centers by taking Charles Bassey out of Western Kentucky and Petrusev, who was coming off a run with Gonzaga. 

While Petrusev hoped to land with the Sixers right away, he took his talent to Anadolu Efes in Turkey. After a 22-game run there, Petrusev played his next 34 games with Crvena Zvezda the following season. Soon enough, he’ll make his official NBA debut.

Before joining the Sixers this offseason, Petrusev reportedly landed on the Serbian FIBA World Cup preliminary roster. According to Sportal’s Christos Tsaltas, Petrusev joins a few other NBA prospects in landing on the squad, as a few other key names have recently been dropped off.

With names like Nikola Jokic and Vasilije Micic out of the picture, Petrusev will join Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic, and Aleksej Pokusevski on the Serbian prelim roster. 

Petrusev’s busy summer will continue, as he just wrapped up a run with the Sixers’ Summer League squad out in Utah and Las Vegas. Serbia’s first game is set to take place one month from now, on August 26, against China. They’ll also face Puerto Rico, and South Sudan in the initial group phase. 

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s Philadelphia 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia Threads: @JGrassoMedia

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