At 75 years old, it is really difficult to be a basketball celebrity. But Svetislav Pesic, with all kinds of present and future experiences, still is. The legendary coach from Novi Sad was a silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics with Serbia and announced, shortly after, that he will leave the Balkan national team.

Mind you, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting basketball. “I will focus on new projects and goals,” he confessed. He still wants to be involved.

Pesic was a protagonist with Serbia in the last Olympic Games. He fell, after a legendary game against the United States, in the semifinals and made it clear that he was not happy. “They didn’t need this,” he noted in reference to the refereeing of a clash that Stephen Curry dominated with a final stretch for the history books.

He won the bronze thanks to a stellar overtime by Jokic against Germany (a replay of the final of the last World Cup) and there he closed, in the colossus of Paris-Bercy, his stage with Serbia. “Before Paris I already told them that someone had to continue the work I started. If someone did not understand it correctly, the Federation should look for a new coach,” he said.

But he is not retiring despite 44 years on the bench. “I will always be available to Serbian basketball, but I want to focus on new projects and goals,” he said. They could take him different places, there was even linkage to the Dubai team that will play the Adriatic League and wants to jump to EuroLeague.

Serbia will need a new coach for the cycle that will begin with the EuroBasket. In the last one, they lost miserably against Italy despite having Nikola Jokic and Vasilije Micic in their ranks.

Without the legendary Pesic…