Eagles stint to tip-off big off-season for Vasiljevic

Now the dust has finally settled on the Sydney Kings' back-to-back NBL crowns, sharpshooter Dejan Vasiljevic has returned home to prepare for a big off-season.

That will all start with a four-game stint with the Diamond Valley Eagles, who he averaged 26 points, 7.64 rebounds and 4.64 assists for in his 11 games in 2022 - leading to him being named in the NBL1 South All-Star Five.

"I’m returning for four games with Diamond Valley to help them start the season off the right way," Vasiljevic said.

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"The reason for me joining Diamond Valley for a short stint is because of my sister - she’s back healthy and playing, so it allows my parents to watch us both with the women playing first then the men following."

His first of those four games for the Eagles will come on Saturday against Eltham, who Kings teammate Angus Glover headlines.

"The matchup [with Angus] will be fun," the 25-year-old said.

"We’ve had a few conversations now [about the game] while playing COD [Call of Duty] and I think we’ll match up against each other if the game gets down to the wire.

"Both clubs have great players so will be interesting to see who matches up on who."

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Following those four NBL1 South games, including fixtures against Dandenong, Frankston and Waverley, the Canadian-born guard will jet off overseas.

"After my four-game stint with Diamond Valley, I will be hopping on a plane to the United States to continue training with my trainer in Miami and spend time with Gemma [his partner]," said Vasiljevic, who is contracted with harbour city side until the end of NBL25.

"I’ve got mini-camps and workouts sorted with a few teams, followed by the possibility of playing in the NBA Summer League as well.

"This off-season is vital as I want to try and make that jump to the NBA or European opportunities if possible, but most importantly. fight for a spot for the World Cup Boomers team."

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To achieve those goals, the University of Miami alum has outlined the area he needs to continue to work on.

"The parts I want to work on in my game is keeping my game conditioning level to a high standard and becoming more of a point guard," he said.

"I have ambitions of playing overseas and they all know me as a shooter/scorer, but I feel like I can become a very underrated playmaker when I have the basketball in my hand - just like the game against South East Melbourne [where he dropped 10 triples on his way to a career-high 42 points]."

Kings fans can watch the match-up between Vasiljevic and Glover here while keeping up to date with all the Hoops Capital side's off-season news here.