A New Rivarly Hitting Our Screens

Many talk of how the European game has expanded into the NBA. This was evident with the arrival of European all-stars such as Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki and their dramatic impact on the game that they’ve had.

Throughout the years we have witnessed rivalries in Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Chamberlain and Russell and of most recent Kobe and Lebron.

However now a European dimension has been added to such glamorous list that has gripped a certain eastern European country on the brink of civil anarchy.

The emergence of the Sasha Vujacic and Goran Dragic has gripped Slovenia’s citizens into a state of horror and chaos.  Representatives from the United Nations have attempted to solve such issues; however the deadlock does not appear to be budging between Dragic and Vujacic. Dragic’s brother, Zora told the press “They’re not good friends,”.

The animosity between the two parties seemed to have originated from the dropping of Vujacic from the Slovenian Basketball team. Months down the line the tension spilt onto the basketball court and into the eyes of the public.

Both sides are locked in a bitter dispute and this was evident in Game 6 of Lakers verse the Suns, with 2 altercations occurring during the course of the game. At first it was a war of words between the parties, however down the stretch of the game, Dragic hit a jumper in Vujacic’s face. Dragic appeared to offer some words to Vujacic to which Vujacic struck out. On-lookers in the crowd appeared stunned at what had proceeded.

Vujacic offered his side of the story. "I heard somebody talking in my language and talking something about mothers and family, so I just went like that (putting his arms up). I didn't do nothing like that on purpose”.  Slovenian madness!!

Vujacic went on to describe Dragic as a “low human being” and sent a chilling threat in “I didn't intentionally want to do anything, if I want to intentionally hurt somebody, I would have done something very differently”. Things are clearly heating up.

Dragic on the other hand pleads innocence in the altercation and insists that Vujacic is the aggressor. Looking puzzled on Vujacic’s story, Dragic questioned "I don't know why he's lying,' but appeared to offer no alternative to the story.

The United States presented their solution through their representative Kobe Bryant in which he reportly wanted to "kill'' Vujacic after what he did and still wanted to "kill him'' even though the Lakers won.

Fearing bloodshed, President Obama retracted Bryant’s statement fearing international condemnation.

Dragic insists that it is a domestic issue and offered the internal insight with “I'm from Slovenia and he's from Slovenia and he wants to demonstrate he's better than me. I want to do the same.'' Clearly there seems to be no compromise for the foreseeable future.

However media in the United States do not seem to take the situation as serious as the European community, dubbing the rivalry “hilarious”.

One difference has emerged from this rivalry and the infamous rivalries throughout the years in the NBA and that is.....Vujacic and Dragic do not exactly start for their teams. With both players playing off the bench, there is a possibility they meet each other around 5 minutes of each game, nevertheless keep your eyes glued to the T.V. next season for when the Suns meet the Lakers. I’m sure Vujacic and Dragic will be giving each dirty looks from opposite benches.