Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanovic has had a busy summer and, for the most part, it’s all going according to plan.
He remained in the United States to train for the Olympics following the Hawks’ elimination by the Bulls from the Play-In Tournament. He immediately traveled to Los Angeles, where he worked out and prepped before meeting up with the Serbian national team roughly seven weeks later.
The final Team Serbia roster went 3-2 in the exhibition games, with wins over France, Japan and Greece and losses to Australia and the United States. They went 2-1 in the Olympic group stages, finishing second behind Team USA, who was responsible for that lone loss.
Once the knockout stage began, they found another gear. They downed Australia 95-90 in overtime, to set themselves up for a semifinal matchup against Team USA.
Bogdanovic led Serbia in scoring in a nail-biting matchup scoring 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting, three of which came from 3-point range.
Serbia led by as many as 17 points with just over six minutes to play in the first half. But Team USA surged back taking a three-point lead, their first since the first quarter, with 2:02 left in the game. They eventually downed Serbia 95-91 to advance to the gold medal game.
Bogdanovic and the Serbian national team would go on to defeat Germany 93-83 in the bronze medal game.
“I mean, just coming up this close, now that game is over, but coming up that close, I can be happy with the way we competed, with representing the country,” Bogdanovic told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think we made our country, the nation proud, and us as players too. I think we gave a lot of confidence to upcoming generations and a lot of motivation, I guess and you know, that ‘Dream Team’ is beatable, even though we didn’t do it. But we made them compete.”
Bogdanovic fed off that competitive spirit throughout the game.
With 3:40 to play in the second quarter, Bogdanovic took a hand-off from Filip Petrusev before going into isolation with Anthony Edwards. He called for a screen from Nikola Jokic before draining a 3 from the top of the key. He hit the three to the dome celebration, tapping his head with three fingers, started by Rasheed Wallace and made famous by Carmelo Anthony.
He made a third 3-pointer with 8:09 to play in the third quarter and did the celebration again, which caused a little bit of a stir on social media.
“I feel like I was doing that in Atlanta, where I just like the celebration,” Bogdanovic said. “It’s just the moment and reaction. We are playing with emotions. We love that game. I love it. So, it was just moment that we showed that we have no fear. We came out to compete, even though we lost two games before that, with a huge point differential, (two) in preparation period and one in group phase and semifinals are different.
“Just wanted to be in the present, enjoy the moment, but I wasn’t doing that, because of Melo at that time. He was at the game. So, of course, I saw it from him. But I didn’t try to provoke nobody. And I’m glad he was there, of course, you know, but if he wasn’t watching the game I would do the same thing.”
Anthony, who becomes eligible for the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2026, loved every minute of Bogdanovic’s celebration. He went to the bronze medal game and had the chance to connect with Bogdanovic.
He also shared his respect for the Hawks sharpshooter publicly on an episode of his podcast “7PM in Brooklyn” last month and that he understood Bogdanovic’s mindset.
“I really wanted to cheer,” Anthony said in the episode. “Because, as a fan, like, as a fan, I really wanted to cheer because in my mind, like, ‘Oh, that (stuff) was crazy, man. That (stuff) was hard, right there.’ He knocked that 3 down, like that. In my mind, I’m like, I can’t show emotion. I really want to be like, ‘Yo, that was crazy.’”
Hearing of Anthony’s mutual respect for him meant a lot to Bogdanovic.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Because, I remember the time where I was shooting 3s with him on a video game and now coming from, that time, to have somebody like him talking about my game and admiring and respecting what I do, it’s unbelievable.”
Bogdanovic received plenty of support from his Hawks teammates, too. Though the season ended almost five months ago, they’ve remained connected, especially as the offseason draws to a close.
“The guys were supporting me,” he said. “Trae (Young), O(nyeka Okongwu) C(lint) C(apela), Dre (De’Andre Hunter), J(alen) J(ohnson), everybody. I got messages from coaches, coaching stuff. So, we’ve been connected, even DJ (Dejounte Murray), too. I know he’s gone but he was part of the team last year. So, I stayed in touch with everybody. Also got connected with new guys, young guys. They’re looking forward to have a good year.”
To have that good year, Bogdanovic has remained steady in his work, continuing to lift weights after the Olympics ended. He also maintained his conditioning by doing some running off the court, while enjoying some time off.
He’s since returned to the gym and has been working on shooting and getting back into basketball shape.
“But when you play Olympics, you can’t get out of shape like that, because we were at the peak there as well,” Bogdanovic said. “And I didn’t have a break like after the season.”
He’ll return to the United States from Europe a little over a week before training camp begins.
Of course, camp could give some indication of how the Hawks could run their rotations for the season.
With Murray in New Orleans, the Hawks need to decide on who will start alongside Young in the backcourt. But as of now, they have not shared their plans with Bogdanovic on whether he will start of come off the bench.
“I don’t know, honestly, I never cared about that part,” he said. I will do whatever my team and coaches need me to do.”
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