After being stashed overseas for two seasons, Filip Petrušev is eager to show Sixers he’s NBA ready

Filip Petrušev’s goal remains the same.

He wanted to play in the NBA long before July 29, 2021, the day the 76ers selected him with the 50th pick in the 2021 NBA draft.

But instead of playing for the Sixers during the 2021-22 season, the team sent him overseas, where he signed a one-year contract with Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Super League. Still not quite NBA ready, the 6-foot-11 Serbian post player signed a one-year deal on July 29 to play for Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade of the Adriatic League and EuroLeague this past season.

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Now back with the Sixers’ summer-league team, his objective is to show he deserves to be on the 2023-24 roster, right?

“That was the goal for me every year,” Petrušev said Saturday. “Right now, I’m just here to compete for summer league. Those things I [let] the agents [handle]. But I’m just here to compete in summer league and show what I can do.”

But Petrušev is definitely using the Utah Jazz Summer League and NBA Summer League in Las Vegas to showcase why he deserves to sign an NBA contract with the Sixers and remain in the United States.

“I believe he is ready. I believe it so much to the extent that I don’t intend to hear proposals from Europe for the entire summer,” Petrušev’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, told Sports DNA. “If he doesn’t sign in the NBA until August, then I’ll listen to Crvena Zvezda first because he really likes the environment there.

“In fact, I will not consider European options. I think that Filip will be in the NBA next season. If not, then, of course, he will be in Crvena Zvezda.”

Petrušev averaged 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in 34 Adriatic games. In 24 EuroLeague appearances, he averaged 11.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while shooting 52.5% from beyond the three-point line.

He thinks he can bring a little bit of everything to an NBA franchise.

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“I was in Europe after college the last three years,” said Petrušev, a former Gonzaga standout who played for Mega Soccerbet of the Basketball League of Serbia during the 2020-21 season. “So I was able to do a lot of things over there, especially this past year where I played EuroLeague, which is the highest level of basketball after the NBA. And I had a really, really good year playing the four before I played the five.

“Whatever the team needs, I’m ready to do it.”

The Sixers open play in Utah against the Memphis Grizzles at 7 p.m. Monday at the Delta Center. They’ll face the Jazz at 9 p.m. Wednesday and the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Summer League in Vegas will run from July 7-18 at UNLV.

In other news, the Sixers signed rookies Ricky Council IV and Terquavion Smith to two-way contracts on Saturday.