Mario Hezonja has never lacked for confidence. That’s at least partially why the Orlando Magic selected the hyper-athletic 6-8 swingman with the fifth pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. After an eye-popping debut at the Orlando Summer League, Hezonja is now back with his Croatian national team preparing for the upcoming 2015 EuroBasket tournament.
And that cockiness of his was on full display Friday in an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, during which Hezonja dropped 24 points, including one final three-pointer to put Croatia up 18 points with 5.9 seconds remaining for no other apparent reason than to twist the knife in a little deeper. But he didn’t stop there. He proceeded to give the opposing coach a little dap afterward (perhaps in tribute to Kobe Bryant’s infamous butt slap on Alvin Gentry following a game-winning three against the Suns a few years back).
Nevertheless, running up the score and/or padding your own stats after the game’s already been decided is something that’s generally frowned upon in the NBA and could potentially earn him a nice hard flagrant foul, depending on how pissed off the opposing team is. It’ll be interesting for him to find out precisely where to draw the line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjiJnFXOhoM
(Vine via Zach Harper; video via Chema de Lucas)
