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Vasiljevic signed a three-year deal with the Kings in July after spending four years at the University of Miami, where he averaged 13.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his senior year.
The 23-year-old is hoping to impress head coach Adam Forde in his first professional season, despite having limited experience against elite Australian opposition.
Born to parents who fled Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars, Vasiljevic spent the first six years of his life in Canada before his family moved to Melbourne in 2003.
Now in Sydney, and without his loved ones nearby, the six-foot-three sharpshooter has turned to Bonnyrigg's Serbian community to help him settle ahead of the upcoming NBL campaign.
“I’ve actually connected with a guy that runs Red Stars (Basketball Club) down there,” Vasiljevic told SBS Sport.
“I used to compete in the Draza Mihailovic Cup just before I took off for college (in 2016). That’s where all the Serbian teams come together and play against each other.
“Every year they either play in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane – every year they switch it up.
“I was able to connect with them and do a couple of training sessions. I was there two weeks ago for the Red Stars’ presentation night as a special guest, so I was able to connect and meet a lot of people.
“There were about 100 people there, so it was good to meet everyone.
“People were saying, ‘look, you’re by yourself here, you can always come to our house and have some food to eat’ or ‘if you’re free, can you come work out my kid’ and stuff like that, so I’m kind of just leaving my mark on that community.”
With the Kings now in Albury as authorities attempt to control the coronavirus outbreak in Sydney’s northern beaches, Vasiljevic’s debut season will look rather different than most.
However, in addition to what transpires on the court, the talented two-guard remains equally eager to continue his work off it and create his own academy for kids in the local community.
“On the side, I’ve been running my own business with my '3J' brand and running apparel, and the next goal is to open up my own academy and connect with the community to see if kids would be interested in being a part of it," he added.
"A lot of people have said yes so just having those connections and being a part of the community helps me, not only give back, but also have time away from basketball to actually be around my type of people.”
The Kings tip off their NBL season away to the Cairns Taipans on January 16 and while it remains to be seen just when they'll return to Qudos Bank Arena, Vasiljevic will have 100 new fans waiting for him.
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