Dallas Basketball

Mavs Plan to Hire Ex Slovenian NBA Player as Coach

Marko Milić was the first Slovenian player selected in the NBA Draft 25 years ago.

Dalton Trigg

After assistant coach Igor Kokoškov left the Dallas Mavericks for the Brooklyn Nets earlier this summer — which might be a decision he’s regretting now due to all the Kevin Durant trade drama — many wondered if Dallas would make another hire with Slovenian ties. Kokoškov had a close relationship with Luka Dončić and was often seen helping him warm up before games, so it would make sense for Dallas to want to fill that void.

According to SportKlub’s Martin Pavčnik, the Mavs could be preparing to sign Marko Milić as an assistant coach. It is believed that Milić would be a player development coach.

“Exactly a quarter of a century ago, Marko Milić was the first Slovenian to make his debut in the NBA. Ten more compatriots followed the Carniola pioneer into the strongest league in the world,” writes Pavčnik.

“Now the legendary Milko (nickname) is also returning to the US. The former national team captain is supposed to strengthen the Dallas Mavericks, where, as everything seems, a job in the coaching staff awaits him.”

Interestingly enough, Milić has ties to Mavericks coach Jason Kidd as well. Kidd and Milić were teammates on the Phoenix Suns from 1997-99, which was Milić’s only two seasons in the league. 

Milić was the first Slovenian player selected in the NBA Draft 25 years ago when he was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 33rd pick. In the Slovenian League, he was a five-time All-Star, two-time MVP and four-time champion.

As Mavs fans prepare to watch Slovenia at EuroBasket 2022, which begins on Sept. 1, they might be able to see Dončić in action a bit sooner than that. The Slovenian national team is traveling to Turkey on Wednesday to play two friendly matches in preparation for EuroBasket play.

You can follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter at @dalton_trigg

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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