“We declared him Serbian almost immediately because he immediately started learning the language. Before long, he was even speaking in slang. I told him: ‘You sound like you were born in Dorćol (one of Belgrade’s oldest neighborhoods), not somewhere in the Czech Republic.'”
That is how Partizan legend Dušan Kecman remembers Jan Veselý’s first days in Belgrade.
Not once in that description does Kecman mention basketball.
Yet those words reveal almost everything about why Veselý went on to become one of the greatest EuroLeague players of his generation: adaptability, intelligence, selflessness and, perhaps most importantly, a complete lack of fear when it came to change.
From Tourist to “Czech Serb”
When Duško Vujošević took a chance on an unknown Czech teenager in 2008, alongside the usual stream of talented prospects from across the Balkans, many wondered what exactly he had seen.
Anyone who watched those early Partizan practices quickly understood why.
“Dule worked with him individually. After just a few practices, you could already see his athletic gifts: his explosiveness, his vertical leap, his agility. On top of that, he absorbed every new piece of information despite arriving in a demanding system with extremely high standards,” Kecman told SK Week.
His development was almost meteoric.
Kecman left for Panathinaikos after the 2008-09 season. When he returned a year later, the teenager from Ostrava had already become one of the leaders of a Partizan team that came within a single possession of reaching the EuroLeague Final.
Talented and eager to work, Veselý quickly earned Vujošević’s trust. The legendary coach encouraged him to handle the ball, attack from the perimeter and even shoot three-pointers.
The NBA Wasn’t a Happy Place
One more season followed before Veselý left for the NBA as the sixth overall pick in the 2011 Draft.
After a respectable rookie season, things became considerably more difficult. Free throws became an obvious weakness, but they were far from his only problem.
“The NBA wasn’t a particularly happy part of my life,” Veselý admitted years later.
Built for Željko
Returning to Europe changed everything.
Signing with Željko Obradović’s Fenerbahçe reignited his love for basketball and launched the finest chapter of his career.
“He accepted every piece of advice, whether it was about basketball or life away from the court. That’s one of the keys to developing quickly and building the habits of a true professional,” Kecman says.
In many ways, Veselý possessed exactly the personality required to flourish under Obradović.
He arrived as a forward. He walked away as one of the greatest centers in EuroLeague history.
Explosiveness. Speed. Mobility. Active hands. Every physical tool modern basketball demands from a big man.
Yet there was another quality that often went unnoticed: relentless engagement. Veselý rarely disappeared from games, rarely drifted mentally and consistently played with remarkable energy.
Obradović eventually found the perfect role for him, and by his second season back from the NBA, Veselý had already been selected to the All-EuroLeague First Team.
From 1-of-10 to EuroLeague MVP
Still, 2016 is remembered for something else. The EuroLeague Final against CSKA. One made free throw in ten attempts. A heartbreaking overtime defeat.
Many players would have struggled to recover.
Veselý wasn’t one of them.
He worked even harder, backed by Obradović’s unwavering support. Twelve months later, Fenerbahçe lifted the EuroLeague trophy.
Over time, the player who had once struggled so badly at the foul line became a reliable free-throw shooter – a fitting symbol of the resilience that defined his career.
In 2019, he was named EuroLeague MVP, cementing his place among the greatest players ever to compete in Europe’s elite competition.
Another Reinvention
After eight seasons in Istanbul, Veselý joined Barcelona in 2022.
Age gradually took away some of his athleticism, but he found new ways to remain effective.
His mid-range jumper became a reliable weapon, while experience and basketball IQ increasingly replaced pure explosiveness.
Another reinvention.
Always About the Team
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At 36, he almost certainly had another season or two left in him.
“He’s the kind of teammate every club wishes it had – positive, respected and loved wherever he goes. We saw that again in his final season, in the way Barcelona said goodbye to him,” Kecman concludes.
Eighteen years ago, Veselý arrived in Belgrade with an unusual haircut, looking – as Kecman jokingly recalls – „like a tourist.”
Through hard work, humility and an infectious smile, he quickly became everyone’s “Czech Serb” and began a journey that came to an end in the summer of 2026.
No one summed him up better than his former teammate in both Partizan and Fenerbahçe, Bogdan Bogdanović:
“It was an honor to share the court with you, brother. Besides bringing crazy energy every single day, you always cared about the team and your teammates. You were always genuine, always about the team and always about winning.”