1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League

The 1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 46th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia.

Star players going abroad before turning 28
The season saw new developments in the business aspect of basketball in Yugoslavia as a result of the Yugoslav First Basketball League's basketball talent becoming interesting to rich NBA teams. With the country's still-formally-enforced strict sporting exit rules—stipulating that no player is allowed to transfer abroad before turning 28 years of age—already being bent and occasionally loosened (superstar Dražen Petrović going to Real Madrid at the age of 24 one year earlier), summer 1989 saw two more high-profile star players leaving the league way before turning 28: twenty-one-year-old Vlade Divac joining the Los Angeles Lakers and twenty-three-year-old Žarko Paspalj heading to the San Antonio Spurs.

Attracted by superior financial compensation in the NBA, the summer 1989 offseason saw yet another newly drafted young Yugoslav star player, Dino Rađa, even resort to unilaterally travelling to the United States and signing with the Boston Celtics despite having a valid contract with KK Jugoplastika; he would eventually be forced to return to Yugoslavia following a Jugoplastika-initiated legal process before U.S. courts. With NBA scouts closely following a number of other Yugoslav League young players—such as Jugoplastika's Toni Kukoč and Žan Tabak, KK Partizan's Predrag Danilović, Saša Đorđević, and Miroslav Pecarski, KK Crvena zvezda's Rastko Cvetković, KK Cibona's Franjo Arapović, KK Zadar's Stojko Vranković and Arijan Komazec, KK Olimpija's Radisav Ćurčić, etc. not to mention a slew of even younger juniors coming up such as Dejan Bodiroga and Željko Rebrača—it was becoming clear that the decades-long system of keeping players in the country until the age of 28 was about to become impossible to keep maintaining.

Koš magazine
From October 1989, the country also got its first-ever basketball specific periodical publication. A magazine named Koš with Vladimir Stanković as its editor-in-chief—devoted entirely to coverage of Yugoslav basketball league, Yugoslav national teams (men's and women's), and Yugoslav players abroad—was launched by the Borba publishing company, thus further indicating the level of popularity the sport had grown to in the country. The first issue of Koš featured Lakers rookie Vlade Divac on the cover, standing in front of The Forum in Los Angeles while wearing his number 12 Lakers jersey.

NBA broadcasts begin on Yugoslav television
Furthermore, with Petrović moving to the Portland Trail Blazers—along with Divac and Paspalj joining the Lakers and Spurs, respectively—the entire Yugoslav basketball media ecosystem began to change as well. Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), country's public broadcasting system, bought television rights to an NBA package consisting of 26 NBA games (18 regular season games and 8 playoff games) from the 1989-90 season—mostly involving Lakers, Blazers, and Spurs—for US$28,000. The US$28,000 price tag (US$67,000 in 2022) was reportedly split between JRT's two biggest television affiliates—TV Beograd and TV Zagreb—with each one paying US$14,000. Carried in Yugoslavia starting from 19 November 1989, on tape delay, the NBA broadcasts marked the first time that games from a foreign basketball league games were shown on Yugoslav television.

Playoff
SEMIFINALS

Jugoplastika-Cibona 94-82, 69-80, 103-90

Crvena zvezda-Zadar 93-89, 90-108, 97-88

FINALS

Jugoplastika-Crvena zvezda 98-70, 67-69, 93-63, 113-91

GROUP KORAC

Partizan-Sibenka 87-80, 71-85, 97-93

Olimpija-Buducnost 105-80, 121-93

Bosna-Olimpija 107-110, 86-88

Vojvodina-Partizan 75-68, 76-82, 76-73

The winning roster of Jugoplastika:
 * Zoran Sretenović
 * Velimir Perasović
 * Toni Kukoč
 * Petar Naumoski
 * Zoran Savić
 * Goran Sobin
 * Velibor Radović
 * Aramis Naglić
 * Žan Tabak
 * Duško Ivanović
 * Dino Rađa
 * Paško Tomić
 * Teo Čizmić
 * Luka Pavićević

Coach: Božidar Maljković

Scoring leaders

 * 1) Arijan Komazec (Zadar) - ___ points (31.5ppg)

Play-out
Six teams competed to qualify for the 1990-91 Yugoslav basketball league (9th-placed IMT and 10th-placed Novi Zagreb from the  A league; second-placed Rabotnički and third-placed Radnički from the IB league (East division), second-placed Spartak Subotica and third-placed Čelik Zenica from the IB league (West division).

Qualifying round
Rabotnički - Čelik 71-68, 72-82, 71-72

Spartak Subotica - Radnički Belgrade 85-82, 69-106, 72-67

Final round
IMT - Spartak 94-85, Novi Zagreb- Čelik 72-69,

Spartak - Novi Zagreb 93-87, Čelik - IMT 57-67,

Novi Zagreb - IMT 81-69, Spartak- Čelik 55-62,

Spartak - IMT 68-82, Čelik - Novi Zagreb 78-65,

IMT - Čelik 91-80, Novi Zagreb - Spartak 85-70,

IMT - Novi Zagreb 82-80, Čelik - Spartak 98-83.

Qualification in 1990-91 season European competitions
FIBA European Champions Cup
 * Jugoplastika (champions)

FIBA Cup Winners' Cup
 * Crvena Zvezda (Cup finalist)

FIBA Korać Cup
 * Zadar (3rd)
 * Cibona (4th)
 * Vojvodina (playoffs)
 * Smelt Olimpija (playoffs)