PARIS (France) – He is known as the defensive specialist, and his never-say-die attitude is contagious for Serbia. Putting the pressure on opposing guards 24/7, Aleksa Avramovic earned the FIBA Best Defensive Player honors.

Avramovic’s pure presence cannot be expressed by numbers, as he bothered his rivals full court, drawing charges, putting his body on the line, forcing tough shots, and then stealing the ball a whopping 3.4 times per 40 minutes.

He played just 19.9 minutes per game, and still picked up a total of 10 steals in France, including four when it mattered the most, in the Bronze Medal Game, making sure Serbia finish a major event with a win, after not doing so the previous seven times they made the Semi-Finals of the FIBA EuroBasket, FIBA Basketball World Cup or the Olympics.

The lefty guard will celebrate his 30th birthday in October, this time as a member of CSKA Moscow in Russia. He spent the previous three seasons with Partizan in Belgrade, and was also a part of Borac, OKK Belgrade, Varese, Unicaja and Estudiantes.

This is his second medal with the national team, having picked up silver at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 previously.

Read more about Serbia’s medal winning run

Serbia pick up bronze in rematch of World Cup Final

Bogdanovic: “Winning bronze harder than winning silver”