Dragan Bender

Early life

Bender was born on November 17, 1997, in Čapljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a city on the Croatian border, and he later moved to Split, Croatia. At 12 years of age, he started playing at Nikola Vujčić's basketball academy as a point guard. Vujčić was a former Maccabi Tel Aviv star and became Bender's guardian. At the academy, Bender became a more versatile player and he "learned how to play all the positions on the court." Bender played there along with his older brother, Ivan, with Bender also playing against guys that were Ivan's age when he first started playing. Bender also played with the KK Split youth teams at this time, and he appeared for the Croatian under-16 national basketball team. He idolized and modeled his game after Toni Kukoč, a former Croatian NBA player, while growing up and watched his old game tape. He mostly watched Euroleague games but would sometimes tune into the NBA as well. One of his favorite Euroleague players was Šarūnas Jasikevičius.

Croatia (2012–2014)

Bender made his professional debut at 15 years of age with KK Split. He played only a total of six minutes and added two points and one rebound. For the following season, Bender remained in Croatia and signed with KK Kaštela, who played in the country's second-best league. With his help, the team was promoted to the A-1 Liga, the top league in Croatia. Most notably, he made a game-winning shot with three seconds remaining against KK Gorica to help his team secure the promotion. Later, in February 2014, Bender joined the KK Cedevita junior team for the Euroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament. He put up 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists vs the junior team of the Serbian club KK Mega Basket.

Israel (2014–2016)

In 2014, Bender signed a seven-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a team that played in the Israeli Basketball Premier League and the Euroleague. He was soon loaned to Ironi Ramat Gan of the Liga Leumit, the second-tier league in Israel, for the 2014–15 season. He made his debut on October 21, 2014, posting 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 assists vs Ramat HaSharon. He recorded another double-double on December 12, with 23 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Maccabi Ra'anana. Bender scored a season-high 25 points as his team defeated Barak Netanya by one point on January 1, 2015. After 28 games, he finished the season averaging 9.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks. As the season came to a close, Bender returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Bender debuted for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League on October 11, 2015, with 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a win over Maccabi Kiryat Gat. He scored double figures for the first time with the team in a rematch with Kiryat Gat, adding 15 points. Bender scored a season-high 16 points on December 31, 2015, as his team defeated Hapoel Holon. In 2015–16, he helped Maccabi Tel Aviv repeat as champions in the 2016 Israeli Basketball State Cup, and he was named a foreign All-Star for the 2016 Israeli All-Star game.

On April 6, 2016, Bender declared for the 2016 NBA draft. His contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv was later bought out for $1.3 million.

2016–17 season

On June 23, 2016, Bender was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. He was widely billed as the best international prospect available in the draft, highly valued for his ability to shoot the ball in various ways as a big man, as well as his overall untapped potential in other facets of the game. As the fourth overall pick, Bender became the Suns' highest-selected rookie since Armen Gilliam was taken second overall in 1987, and the highest-selected Croatian to be taken in an NBA draft. On July 7, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Suns and joined the team for the 2016 NBA Summer League. In five Summer League games, Bender averaged 8.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. Despite his inconsistency throughout the event (primarily with shooting), Bender earned praise from scouts for his on-court abilities and flexible playing style. Bender came to Phoenix with his personal coach, Croatian coach Mladen Sestan, who worked with Bender almost daily in the six years prior to entering the NBA. He continued to work with Sestan outside Suns workouts heading into his rookie season.

Bender made his debut for the Suns in their season opener on October 26, 2016 against the Sacramento Kings. In just under 12 minutes off the bench, he scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in a 113–94 loss. With Bender playing alongside Devin Booker and fellow rookie Marquese Chriss, the Suns became the first NBA team to get three teenagers on the floor in the same game. Bender also joined Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the only 18-year-olds to score 10 points in a game since 2006–07. He had his second 10-point game of the season on November 8 in a 124–121 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He then had his third 10-point game of the season on December 3 in a 138–109 loss to the Golden State Warriors. On December 26, Bender recorded his first career double-double with season highs of 11 points and 13 rebounds in a 131–115 loss to the Houston Rockets. On February 8, 2017, Bender underwent a successful routine arthroscopic procedure on his right ankle to remove a bone spur. He was subsequently ruled out for approximately four to six weeks. He returned to action on April 2, 2017 against Houston.

2017–18 season

In July 2017, Bender re-joined the Suns for the 2017 NBA Summer League. In five games, he averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

National team career

Bender competed for the Croatian national team at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Latvia and Lithuania. Through five contests, he averaged 2.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.6 minutes per game. The following year, he came back at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Ukraine, improving through 9 games to 9.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 35.4 minutes per game. Bender improved even further at the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in Turkey. In 9 games, he averaged 14.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 29 minutes per game, helping his team win the bronze medal, and being named to All-Tournament Team in the process. In 2015, Bender was called up by Croatia for the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Crete, Greece, but he was forced to withdraw because the team's players were obliged to wear Jordan Brand clothes and shoes due to a sponsorship agreement. Bender had signed a similar agreement with his sponsor Adidas, which prevented him to wear other brands. Bender expressed disappointment in the national team's decision, even saying the team had no reason to attack his loyalty to Croatia or his family's loyalty to it. Adidas later designed a logo-less pair of shoes for Bender in order for him to play with Maccabi Tel Aviv, since they are also sponsored by Jordan Brand as well, as a response to the Croatian national team's stance.

In June 2017, Bender was granted permission from the Phoenix Suns to play for Croatia at EuroBasket 2017.

Player profile

Bender has been strongly compared to Kristaps Porziņģis to the point where NBA executives figured he's a Top 5 selection similar to Porziņģis because of their playing styles, either due to it being a selling point or being a good cover overall. However, while Porziņģis may be the stronger shooter and scorer, Bender is consistently labeled as the stronger passer and ball-handler.

Career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Personal life

Bender's older brother, Ivan, is a redshirted junior that plays college basketball as a forward for the Maryland Terrapins.

In order to learn the English language at a young age, Bender watched American sitcoms like Friends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.