By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic said that he couldn’t hold back a tear when he heard about his Serbian national team teammate Ognjen Kuzmic getting seriously injured in a car accident.
“The news really hit me. I literally shed a tear when I heard what happened. I couldn’t believe that such a thing could happen to such a person. I wish him a quick recovery, to get back to the court as soon as possible. To see this famous smile on his face as soon as possible,” Marjanovic said per Sportski Zurnal.
Kuzmic suffered head and chest injuries when his car crashed while he was driving in Bosnia. He woke up from the medically induced coma he was on Thursday.
Marjanovic expected to see Kuzmic in the first gathering of the Serbian national team ahead of the preparation for the 2019 World Cup. The Mavericks big guy will have to skip the first stage of the preparation, as will the rest of the NBAers like Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Sacramento Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and his teammate forward Nemanja Bjelica, plus new Memphis Grizzlies guard Marko Guduric.
“These are the rules. While we are there, we have to respect that. In general, we need to understand this and make sure that when we join the team it won’t be noticed that we haven’t trained together from the beginning.”
Serbia won second place in the 2014 World Cup and is considered one of the strongest medal contenders for this year’s tournament. Marjanovic doesn’t want to look that far for now.
‘We have to go step by step. There are many steps that you have to climb to get to the final,” Marjanovic said.