Croatia’s best basketball player Bojan Bogdanović is shining this season in the Indiana Pacers jersey, though things for his beloved Croatia team and their chances of going to the FIBA World Cup in 2019 are getting slimmer, reports T.portal on December 11, 2018. 

This season, 29-year-old Bojan Bogdanović picked up his game to an even higher level. He is currently averaging 16.6 points (the highest in his career), 3.9 rebounds, and is shooting 49% of three-pointers (3rd in the league) - and we also have to remember that a dozen or so games have been without the Pacers' best player, Victor Oladipo. But, despite Indiana's problems, they are currently fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"I have the confidence of my teammates and we can say that this is the best season of my career," Bogdanović told Eurohoops.net.

However, it seems that Bojan and Dario Šarić have not been adequately exploited in the Croatia national team jersey, who, after several defeats in the 2019 World Cup qualifiers (ratio 4-6), are in a very tough position. 

Again, with Croatia’s recent defeat to Lithuania (79:62) and Poland’s win over Italy (94:78), Croatia will no longer decide their fate in the remaining two qualifiers at the end of February (against Hungary away and Poland at home). The chances of going to the World Cup are now reduced to theory. Particularly, Poland now has two more wins than Croatia, which means that beating Poland at home is still not enough for Croatia -  they will also need the Netherlands, the weakest team in the group, to pull an upset against Poland. 

Unfortunately, because Bogdanović and Šarić have obligations in the NBA league, they will miss the final two crucial FIBA World Cup qualifiers in February, 

"We are far away from the tournament, but I still hope we will be able to secure our place and play there next year," Bogdanović said.

Asked what he thinks about the qualifications for the 2019 World Cup and the fact that many teams could not play with players in Euroliga and the NBA, Bogdanović answered sincerely:

“It really does not make sense, not that way. Slovenia, who is the current European champion, will not be at the World Cup in China. And probably several strong national teams like Turkey and Croatia will miss out on the World Cup. We are far away from playing in China, and I repeat that it does not make sense to play it this way,” Bogdanović, the best shooter in the history of the Croatia national team, said truthfully. 

To read more about Bojan Bogdanović, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

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