[1] Seeking a bigger arena after his career started in Europe, Petrović joined the NBA in 1989, as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.

[4] Petrović is considered a crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA,[5] and to this day he is viewed as a national hero in Croatia.

In 1983, the 18-year-old Petrović hit two free throws in Šibenka's victory over Bosna Sarajevo in the final playoff game of the Yugoslavian League's 1982–83 season's club championship.

After a year's mandatory service in the Yugoslav military, Petrović joined his older brother Aco and moved to Cibona Zagreb, to form what was at that time, the best back court duo in Europe.

Cibona won the game, by a score of 87–78, and the win brought the club their first top-tier level European Champions Cup title.

[citation needed] On 5 October 1985, in a Yugoslav First Federal League game against Union Olimpija Ljubljana, Petrović scored 112 points, in Cibona's 158–77 blowout win.

Olimpija general manager Radovan Lorbek was reportedly late with submitting a registration letter to the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia (KSJ) headquarters in Belgrade.

[19][20] Cibona, for their part, decided to use a mixed roster for the game, consisting of players from their youth system, plus their senior men's team's twenty-one-year-old Dražen Petrović, who broke Korać's single-game Yugoslav League scoring record of 74 points.

On 4 December 1985, in a 1985–86 season FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) game against the Israeli Super League club Maccabi Tel Aviv, Petrović scored 44 points.

[22][23] In another European Champions Cup game that season, on 16 January 1986, Petrović scored 49 points, and had 20 assists against the Spanish League club Real Madrid.

On 14 October 1987, Petrović scored 62 points in a 1987–88 FIBA Korać Cup season game against the Finnish League club KTP Kotka.

[28] Petrović led Cibona to the Finals of the Korać Cup, where they lost to the Spanish League club Real Madrid.

[30] Petrović helped Real to win the title of the 1989 edition of the Spanish King's Cup, over their Catalan rivals, Barcelona.

He left Spain rather abruptly, at the end of the season; the Blazers assisted him in the process, by buying out his contract with Real Madrid, for as much as US$1.5 million.

Making matters worse, the Blazers already had a full rotation of guards, with a starting backcourt of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, and with veteran Danny Young as a reserve.

Consequently, the reigning La Gazzetta dello Sport Euroscar European Player of the Year saw limited playing time.

[33] The following season, veteran guard Danny Ainge was added to the team, and Petrović's playing time dropped further to 7 minutes a game.

[33] In many statements made prior to arriving in Portland, Petrović had said he saw a lack of playing time as the only possible obstacle to his success in the NBA.

His lack of playing time during his second season in the league brought Petrović's frustration to a climax: "I have nothing to say to Adelman any more and vice versa.

The following year, he and Coleman were joined by Kenny Anderson, giving the team a third talented new addition, and forming was expected to grow into a "big three".

Third place was also earned at the 1986 FIBA World Championship, remembered for the last minute thriller in the semi-final game against the Soviet Union.

Urged on by Petrović's competitiveness and confidence,[5] the Croatians fared well in the first ten minutes of the game, taking a 25–23 lead on a Franjo Arapović dunk and the subsequent made free throw.

In the summer of 1993, after his best NBA season and the Nets' first-round elimination by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Petrović traveled to Wrocław, where the Croatian national team was playing a qualification tournament for the 1993 EuroBasket.

He told American reporters that the lack of recognition in the league made him also consider leaving the NBA completely and playing club basketball in Greece.

[5][50] According to Edebal, who incurred severe memory loss as a result of the accident and would never play basketball again, Szalantzy was driving 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph), which was legal on the Autobahn.

[51][52] Petrović was buried on June 12, 1993, with a Catholic funeral Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Marko Culej of Zagreb.

On 29 April 1995, a statue commemorating Petrović's significance to the world of sports was erected in front of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, thus making him only the second athlete to receive this honor.

In 2011, a statue of him as a little boy sitting on a bench with a ball was unveiled in Šibenik, and his old room was renovated the way it looked when he was young, as a first part of opening a Memorial Center in his hometown.

In 2015, Australian writer Todd Spehr released a 470-page biography on Petrović, titled Dražen: The Remarkable Life & Legacy of the Mozart of Basketball.

The memorial center idea originated from Petrović's parents, Biserka and Jole Petrovic, and was supported with the contributions of Croatian architects Andrija Rusan and Niksa Bilic.