Meet 17-Year-Old European Dragan Bender, Who Could Be 2016’s Kristaps Porzingis

September 30th, 2015 by David Pick Leave a reply »

TEL AVIV, Israel — It was almost midnight. Future top NBA draft pick Dragan Bender was last to exit the locker room.

Thrown across one of his shoulders was a small knapsack, while his svelte arms toted a yellow, human-sized garbage bag full of soaked jerseys and gym socks.

Preparing for an NBA assignment, perhaps?

"I'm the youngest on the team. Rookie duties," the Croatian phenom said.

Bender, an impossibly gangly 7'1", 216-pound 17-year-old currently playing for European powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, appears to be a surefire 2016 NBA draft lottery pick.

Though he turns 18 on November 17, June 2016 is distant on the horizon, and Bender has a world of hype to validate in the interim. His first major NBA audition for scouts comes this week as Bender and Maccabi headline a two-part exhibition series with Italian club Emporio Armani Milan (owned by fashion icon Giorgio Armani) in Chicago on Thursday and New York on Sunday.

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