{"id":93745,"date":"2024-08-31T17:43:55","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T21:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=93745"},"modified":"2024-08-31T17:43:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T21:43:55","slug":"raptors-darko-rajakovic-hawks-bogdan-bogdanovic-can-play-until-almost-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/31\/raptors-darko-rajakovic-hawks-bogdan-bogdanovic-can-play-until-almost-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors Coach Believes Hawks Standout Can Play Until Almost 40"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Hawks shooting guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> has a solid reputation in the NBA. In Serbia, he\u2019s all but legendary. The captain of the Serbian national team, Bogdanovic was named <a href=\"https:\/\/kss.rs\/bogdan-bogdanovic-i-aleksandra-crvendakic-najbolji-u-2023-specijalna-priznanja-3x3-juniorskoj-reprezentaciji-doktoru-draganu-radovanovicu-i-mocart-fondaciji\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the best Serbian player<\/a> over Denver Nuggets center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n<h2>Raptors\u2019 Darko Rajakovic Believes Hawks\u2019 Bogdan Bogdanovic Can Play Until Almost 40<\/h2>\n<p>Naturally, Bogdanovic\u2019s career was among the myriad topics discussed as Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic sat down with the <em>Luka i Kuzma podcast. <\/em>It isn\u2019t rare for coaches to gloat about opposing players, but Rajakovic positively gushed about his countryman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis commitment to basketball <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/en\/nba-news\/1711269\/bogdan-bogdanovic-darko-rajakovic-nba-atlanta-hawks-toronto-raptors-serbia\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is really incredible<\/a>. He pays a lot of attention to his diet and takes very good care of his body. He is getting better physically every season,\u201d the \u010ca\u010dak native says (h\/t Eurohoops).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Darko Rajakovi\u0107 | Luka i Kuzma podcast No.333\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JxabcG5-vGQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he can play in the NBA for another six to seven years without any problems,\u201d Rajakovic continues.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI have a hard time preparing for the matches we will play against him. He always has a smile on his face, he enjoys playing basketball very much. I am his fan.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If Rajakovic is right, Bogdanovic would be playing until he was 38 or 39 years old. That\u2019s difficult to fathom with only eight active players in that age range.<\/p>\n<h3>Is It Realistic?<\/h3>\n<p>As a seven-year NBA veteran, Bogdanovic might seem like he has a bit less wear and tear on his body.<\/p>\n<p>However, he spent his first five seasons in the EuroLeague after being drafted, playing at least 27.5 minutes per game in four of them. So, he\u2019s not only had a 12-year professional career, he\u2019s been heavily involved in his team\u2019s gameplan. Furthermore, he\u2019s taken part in three EuroBasket Tournaments, three FIBA World Cups, and two Olympics. Those eight shortened offseasons have only weathered him even more.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t impossible though. Bogdanovic\u2019s scoring ability, particularly from deep, will help him stay in the league. A career 38.4 percent 3-point shooter on 6.5 attempts per game, all he has to do is keep shooting. As everybody knows, 3-point threats are quite valuable. That\u2019s long been the case and it doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019ll change anytime soon.<\/p>\n<h3>Does It Matter For The Hawks?<\/h3>\n<p>For the Hawks, all that may matter is that Bogdanovic can finish out his contract while playing at a high level. Signed through 2026-27 with a team option in the final season, these years coincide with the most pivotal of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> era. The nearly 26-year-old is also signed through 2026-27, but his patience is waning. If Atlanta doesn\u2019t look like they\u2019ll be able to challenge for a championship before his contract expires, he may even request a trade.<\/p>\n<p>However, if the Hawks develop into title contenders, Bogdanovic\u2019s longevity could prove crucial.<\/p>\n<p>Young\u2019s ball-handling, shot-creation, and playmaking make his best backcourt mate a guard who can thrive catch-and-shoot situations. Bogdanovic is one such player. Long-term, the Hawks\u2019 plan may be for 2024 No. 1 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/risacza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zaccharie Risacher<\/a> to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/27\/nba-rookie-preview-zaccharie-risacher\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">team\u2019s starting shooting guard<\/a>. Nonetheless, Bogdanovic is the better player and thus option until Risacher proves otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic has a solid reputation in the NBA. In Serbia, he\u2019s all but legendary. The captain of the Serbian national team, Bogdanovic was named the best Serbian player over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in 2023. Raptors\u2019 Darko Rajakovic Believes Hawks\u2019 Bogdan Bogdanovic Can Play Until Almost 40 Naturally, Bogdanovic\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":93774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,62,3,36,14],"tags":[1227,49557,1349,49147],"class_list":["post-93745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-podcasts","category-raptors","tag-bogdan-bogdanovic","tag-darko-rajakovic","tag-trae-young","tag-zaccharie-risacher"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}