Only three and a half months remain until the highly anticipated I Feel Slovenia Night of the Dragon event, marking the farewell match of one of Slovenia’s greatest athletes, basketball star Goran Dragić. This two-day spectacle, set to take place at Ljubljana’s Stožice Arena on August 23 and 24, promises a memorable celebration divided into a “Business Talk,” a charity gala dinner with team selections, and a central exhibition game featuring a galaxy of basketball stars. Many renowned names have already confirmed their attendance, ensuring a star-studded event.
Among the confirmed attendees are the hottest basketball player on the planet, Luka Dončić, NBA regular season MVP Nikola Jokić, former NBA MVP Steve Nash, Montenegrin star Nikola Vučević (Chicago Bulls), Serbian sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanović (Atlanta Hawks), former Brazilian player Leandro Barbosa, top player turned coach Aleksandar Đorđević, and renowned coaches Erik Spoelstra, Igor Kokoškov, Alvin Gentry, Božo Maljković, Jure Zdovc, and Aleksandar Đikić. The event will also feature two other NBA players, Slovenian Vlatko Čančar (Denver Nuggets) and Serbian giant Boban Marjanović (Houston Rockets), alongside former Chicago Bulls superstar Luol Deng and the exceptional Italian Luigi Datome, now the sports director of the Italian national basketball team. Gogi’s Slovenian basketball companions, including Rašo Nesterović, Klemen Prepelić, Sani Bečirović, Boštjan Nachbar, Erazem and Domen Lorbek, Matjaž Smodiš, Anthony Randolph, Beno Udrih, Gašper Vidmar, Uroš Slokar, Primož Brezec, Zoran Dragić, Jaka Laković, Marko Milić, Jaka Blažič, Edo Murić, Miha Zupan, Aleksandar Ćapin, Aleksej Nikolić, Matic Rebec, Žiga Dimec, and many others, will also be in attendance.
The team selection, a highlight of the event, will be broadcast live on TV Slovenija 1 during the charity gala dinner on Friday, August 23, in the Stožice Arena. Team captains—one of whom will be Goran Dragić, with the other to be announced later—will select their teammates for the grand basketball spectacle. This exhibition game will emphasize the skills and antics of the world’s greatest basketball masters rather than competitiveness.
“I can hardly wait,” said Goran Dragić, the Slovenian with the longest, 15-year tenure in the North American NBA. “My organizational team and I have been working for seven months to create something extraordinary, special, and unifying. I am extremely happy and grateful that many of my basketball friends have already confirmed their attendance, and I promise that more will join. My team will ensure that I enjoy the weekend and that everything runs at the highest possible level. We aim to raise as much money as possible for the Sponsorship in Sports program and the Goran Dragić Foundation, to present Slovenia and Ljubljana to the world in the best light, and to provide the audience in the arena and viewers of the live broadcast on TV Slovenija with two fantastic, unforgettable, emotional, and spectacular August evenings. I want to unite Slovenia and show once again that we can come together for a good cause.”
All funds raised from regular tickets and SMS messages sent to the number 1919 with the keywords Gogi5 (5 euros) and Gogi10 (10 euros) will be allocated to the Botrstvo v športu program, managed by the Zveza Anite Ogulin in ZPM and the Olympic Committee of Slovenia, and the Goran Dragić Foundation.
