Serbian big man Filip Petrušev, a former Gonzaga standout, aims to punch his ticket with the Sixers, but nothing is certain

LAS VEGAS — Filip Petrušev’s desire to don a 76ers uniform this upcoming season is obvious.

“I signed a one-year deal so I can be available,” said Petrušev, a Serbian post player who completed his contract with Turkish team Anadolu Efes for the 2021-22 season. “Then if not, I’ll just sign one more year in Europe. So I will try to be available after every year.”

The Sixers drafted the 6-foot-11, 235-pounder with the 50th pick in the 2021 NBA draft. The team stashed him overseas, leading to his decision to ink the one-year deal with the Anadolu Efes.

While Petrušev wants to come over and play in the NBA, the Sixers would have to create a roster spot for him to do so.

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An NBA team may have a maximum of 15 players with standard contracts in addition to a pair of two-way players in the regular season.

Right now, the Sixers have 15 players signed to standard deals. That number will increase to 16 when James Harden officially signs what is expected to be a two-year deal with a player option for the second season. Rookie forward Julian Champagnie and four-year swingman Charlie Brown Jr. have the two-way slots.

Isaiah Joe and Paul Reed are on nonguaranteed deals while Trevelin Queen and Charles Bassey have partial guarantees for this season. Joe’s $1.78 million contract becomes guaranteed if he’s on the opening-night roster.

While Petrušev didn’t want to go into specifics, the 22-year-old “kind of” has an idea of the team’s plans for him next season.

But he definitely wants to play for the Sixers this season.

“I think every player wants to come as soon as possible,” he said. “I wanted to come last year, if you asked me. Yeah, for sure, whenever the time is, I’ll be ready.”

Petrušev could be a solid addition whenever he does come over because of his skill set. He can stretch the floor and knock down shots to create space for Joel Embiid and others in a backup role.

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For now, Petrušev is trying to make an impact with the Summer Sixers at the NBA 2K23 Summer League at UNLV.

After sitting out last week’s Salt Lake City Summer League, Petrušev had two points, four rebounds, and a steal and a block in eight minutes in Saturday’s 97-77 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Cox Pavilion.

“It was the first game,” he said. “I had no practices. No nothing, so I tried to play with energy out there. I tried to get into place and run the plays. I just tried to play hard and impact the game somehow.”

He entered the game at the start of the second quarter, and instantly let his presence be known. Petrušev made a pair of foul shots, grabbed four rebounds and blocked a shot in his first four minutes before being subbed out by Bassey.

He re-entered the game with 2:47 left in the third quarter. This time, he focused on setting picks to free up teammates.

“I thought Filip was OK,” said Sixers skills development coach Dwayne Jones, who is serving as the Sixers’ head coach in Vegas. “Coming from overseas, he got here like four days ago. So I think he’s still trying to get adjusted to that.”

The Sixers haven’t been able to have a real practice with Petrušev. The thought is he’ll become more adjusted once they have practices in a couple of days.

“Overall, he contributed solidly,” Jones said. “He was able to show what he can. Even last year [at summer league], he was able to protect the rim. I think he showed that [Saturday].

“As the week goes on, two weeks go on, I expect him to continue to grow and get into the mix with our guys.”

Petrušev is fresh off playing with the Serbian national team in World Cup qualifying against Latvia (June 30) and Belgium (July 3) in Europe.

He finished with 10 rebounds, one block, one steal, but no points as Serbia lost to host Latvia, 66-59, in the capital city of Riga. Petrušev didn’t play in the team’s 74-73 victory over Belgium in Niš, Serbia’s third-largest city.

He and his Serbian teammates will compete in EuroBasket 2022 in September.

The Sixers selected him after his stellar season playing for Mega Basket in his hometown of Belgrade.

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Petrušev swept the ABA League’s MVP, top prospect, and top scorer awards during the 2020-21 season. In addition to leading the league in scoring (23.6 points), he led it in minutes played (32.0 per game) and field-goal percentage (57.9%). In addition, he made 41.9% of his three-pointers and averaged 7.6 rebounds.

He didn’t have the same success this past season with Efes.

Petrušev actually struggled after starting the season strong. Efes plays in the Turkish Super League and in the EuroLeague. The squad won its second EuroLeague trophy in May.

He averaged 15.2 points but shot just 16.7% on three-pointers to go with 6.2 rebounds in 13 Turkish Super League appearances. His numbers dropped to 5.2 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 9.3 minutes in 22 EuroLeague appearances.

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Efes coach Ergin Ataman was critical of Petrušev following the season.

“We took a risk with Petrušev,” Ataman told Milliyet newspaper. “The young player was named MVP in the Adriatic League. The fact that he came to such a high-level team for the first time and that he could not reach that level physically was a bit of a mistake for us.”

Based on Ataman’s comments, one would assume the Turkish Super League and EuroLeague’s style of play was more physical than what Petrušev was accustomed to.

“How it works over there, they brought me in with a lot of expectations,” Petrušev said. “I was doing OK in the beginning, and then benched me. So they got to find an excuse why they benched me and all that. So I really don’t care what he says. And if people watch the games, they can see it.”

He definitely played a physical brand of basketball on Saturday. But it’s no secret that European basketball is more physical than in America.

At this stage of his career, his game probably is more suited for the NBA or G League, where spacing is a priority.

We should get a better idea in the coming months, maybe with a few more practices, when or if he’s coming over to play for the Sixers.