After leaving home at age 11 Dzanan Musa is on the cusp of achieving his childhood dream

Dzanan Musa was just 11 years old when he left his hometown of Bihać, a quaint 60,000-person city situated in the northwest corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and traveled five hours to the country’s capital Sarajevo. But this wasn’t a class trip or family vacation like most kids his age would be accustomed to.

Musa was chasing his basketball dream. He enrolled in KK Koš, an academy where he knew no one and lived in an apartment by himself. He practiced three times a day and lived, ate and slept basketball.

“It was a hard time for me and my parents and my brother, but we got over it because we love basketball and we have such a passion for basketball,” Musa said following his workout with the Nuggets on Wednesday.  “… I was crying for three or four months all day, before the practices, after the practices, at night especially because you feel alone.”

Musa signed his first professional contract in 2014 with Croatian powerhouse KK Cedevita. He debuted for the club at the highest level of competition in Europe, the EuroLeague, at just 16 years old. Musa is the ninth-youngest player to make his debut in the EuroLeague since the 2000-01 season. At 16 years and 160 days old, he debuted at a younger age than likely top-four pick Luka Doncic.

Musa arrived on the radar of NBA teams in 2017 when he was named Most Improved Player at the prestigious Adidas Eurocamp. Last season the 6-foot-9 swingman averaged 12.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and nearly two assists across the A-1 Liga (Croatia’s top league), Adriatic League and EuroCup competition. Musa also shot 47.0 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from distance and 80.4 percent from the free-throw line.

He was awarded the EuroCup’s Rising Rising Star trophy after last season and promptly declared for the draft in April. Now, at the ripe age of 19, Musa is about to achieve what he set out to do eight years ago. He’s a likely first-round pick in next Thursday’s draft. In ESPN’s latest mock, Musa is projected 24th overall to the Trail Blazers.

Musa is one of the more confident prospects you’ll come across in this year’s class. Some say his confidence at times borderlines on cockiness. With the limited exposure on social media that European players get compared to their American counterparts, Musa believes he would be projected to go higher in most mock drafts if he grew up in the U.S. Despite his late-first round projection, Musa declared Wednesday that he should be selected in the draft’s first 14 picks.

“I’m a lottery pick, for sure,” he said.

Leaving your parents at the age of 11, fending for yourself at every turn and finally being on the cusp of what you set out to do eight years ago will do that.

“That helped me a lot,” Musa said of his challenging journey to get to this point. “I know how to manage myself and be with others, especially because you’re from a small town like I am, and you go to the main city you have people looking at you like you’re nothing and you have to fight all the way through that. So I fight. I fight all the time.”

Musa had access to just one television channel while growing up and only was able to watch NBA games at three or four in the morning when he didn’t have practice the next day. But now Musa is well versed on the Nuggets. He’s familiar with Juancho Hernangomez, who Denver selected 15th overall 2017 from Spain, and Nikola Jokic, who the Nuggets picked in the second round in 2014. Both Musa and Jokic are represented by top European agent Misko Raznatovic.

“He’s a great guy,” Musa said of Jokic. “… I’m impressed with the Nuggets.”

Musa is regarded as the third-best European prospect in the draft behind Doncic and fast-rising French guard Elie Okobo. His favorite player as a kid was Kobe Bryant. He looks up to Manu Ginobili because of his style of play and leadership. Musa has a slender frame at 190 pounds but said he’s now up to 205. When asked about what position he’ll play at the NBA level, Musa said he’s a point guard but can play both backcourt spots and small forward.

When Musa left home as a kid, his dream was to play in the NBA. But his ambition doesn’t stop there. Musa has championship aspirations too. In eight days when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver calls out his name, he’ll be one step closer to that lifelong goal.

“I love basketball,” Musa said. “I fell in love with basketball as soon as I got a ball at the age of seven.”