Serbian super agent Miško Ražnatović, in whose club Mega Nikola Jokić started his professional career, told Pete Radovich and the audience about his journey from a football player to a professional basketball player, and later a lawyer who founded the leading basketball agency BeoBasket. The only agent to ever represent the MVP of the EuroLeague and the MVP of the NBA in the same year and the only European agent to represent a back-to-back MVP of the NBA revealed the most interesting details on his path to incredible worldwide success.
“Between the ages of 10 and 11 everyone played football in front of their houses. One day my father said to me: ‘Listen, son, you are very bad at this. Maybe try something with your hands instead’. I then switched to basketball very quickly and my love for the sport grew year by year. Before the age of 22, I graduated with a degree in law. But after one bad season I decided to stop playing basketball and focus only on law. When our players started to earn some serious money, they realized that they needed legal protection and approached me with questions about contract negotiations. I had no one to learn from, so I started from the very beginning. At that time, agents were only interested in the big-name players. Between 70 and 80 percent of players didn’t have their own agent. I gradually learned and progressed, and after I succeeded locally, I decided to go international. It was only after Dušan Ivković gave me his trust that everyone knew that Miško was ready. That’s when everything began,” said Miško Ražnatović.
He also explained the difference between American and Balkan agents and pointed out that the Americans are timid and coddle the players and that almost none of them have the courage to openly tell the players the truth. From the beginning, Miško has been doing things his own way. Even after years of success his approach has not changed. He considers it his duty to talk to the players and point out their mistakes. Miško also told interesting anecdotes about Boban Marjanović, the filming of commercials and Hollywood, and for the first time told the story about how how he discovered Nikola Jokić.
Throughout Miško Ražnatović’s career there were many more bad evaluations than good ones, because there are a lot of factors that go into making a great success. He also revealed that he enjoys watching basketball in his free time and, apart from the NBA and the EuroLeague, he also likes to watch youth basketball tournaments. So, when people see him in the stands and think he’s working, he’s actually doing what he loves most. Finally, he announced that by watching the younger generations, he’s certain the success of Mega will continue – STAY TUNED!
