Once Brothers

Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were childhood friends united by their love for basketball. Together, they propelled the Yugoslavian National team to unprecedented success. After dominating the European scene, they both ventured to the United States, becoming the first foreign players to achieve NBA fame. However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 led to the fragmentation of Yugoslavia. A conflict erupted between Petrovic’s Croatia and Divac’s Serbia, bringing long-suppressed ethnic tensions to the surface. The two men, once as close as brothers, found themselves on opposing sides of a brutal civil war. Although they continued to encounter each other on NBA courts, they no longer spoke. Tragically, on June 7, 1993, Drazen Petrovic died in a car accident. This film narrates the compelling story of these two individuals, how uncontrollable events drove them apart, and whether Divac has ever come to terms with the loss of his friend before they had the opportunity to reconcile.