Bojan Bogdanović's Official Farewell: 'Babo' Was Lethal, Quietly Retired to Legend

Bojan Bogdanović, Croatia's prolific basketball star known as 'Babo,' received a long-overdue public farewell in Zadar, a year after announcing his retirement from international play. The ceremony took place before a World Cup qualifying match between Croatia and Latvia, a game Bogdanović would have played had injuries not ended his career prematurely.

Despite his desire to avoid a formal send-off, Kruno Simon, a former teammate and now sports director of the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS), insisted on honoring the player who became the national team's all-time leading scorer. Bogdanović represented Croatia from 2010, playing 139 games and scoring 2200 points, averaging 15.8 points per game. He participated in two World Cups, five European Championships, and one Olympic Games.

Bogdanović's scoring prowess was particularly evident at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he was the tournament's top scorer with 25.3 points per game, a feat not seen since Oscar Schmidt in 1996. He also led Croatia in scoring during their Olympic qualification tournament in Turin and at the 2014 World Cup in Spain, where he was the second-highest scorer. His performance at EuroBasket earned him a spot in the tournament's best five, an honor not achieved by a Croatian player since Toni Kukoč in 1995.

Despite Bogdanović's individual brilliance, Croatia often fell short in crucial elimination games during major tournaments. The team was eliminated in the Round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup and the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics. After a decade with the national team, Bogdanović also concluded his NBA career, where he became the Croatian player with the most points scored both overall and in a single game, notably scoring 48 points for the Utah Jazz against the Denver Nuggets.