This summer on the transfer market will be remembered as one of the busiest in the recent era of European basketball, both for the crazy spending of some clubs and for the events involving the latest purchase of Olimpia Milano: Nikola Mirotic.
He was at the center of a very tough dispute with his former club for contractual reasons, he was very close to signing with Partizan Belgrade, but since August 2023 he has officially been a new player in the team coached by Ettore Messina.
The player certainly needs no introduction, having been a EuroLeague and ACB superstar for years, but for the most distracted or for those who have only recently approached European basketball, we have carried out our usual scouting to discover the points of strengths and weaknesses of the Montenegrin player with Spanish passport.
We have made use of our cooperation with Synergy to have very precise numerical data and make our player cards even more detailed, translate into numbers what has already been described in a discursive manner and shown via video.
Career
Nikola Mirotic was born on February 11, 1991 in Titograd, now known as Podgorica, Montenegro.
Move i first steps in basketball at the Joker School in Podgoricaimmediately showing his talent, so as to convince Real Madrid to bring him into their youth sector in 2006. He entered the first team on a permanent basis in 2008, remaining in the Spanish capital until 2014. Winning the ACB title in 2013 , the Copa del Rey in 2012 and 2014 and the Spanish Super Cup in 2012 and 2013. All topped off with the EuroLeague Rising Star individual title in 2011 and 2012.
In the 2011 draft he was selected by the Houston Rockets at 23rd but his rights are placed in a trade involving both the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Chicago Bulls. It is precisely the latter who give Mirotic a chance, bringing him to the NBA in the summer of 2014 with excellent results.
In the meantime he is the protagonist of the Spanish national team which in 2015 wins the European title, coached by an old acquaintance of Italian basketball, namely Sergio Scariolo.
His stay in the Windy City lasted until 2018, when he was traded and sent to the New Orleans Pelicans in February of the same year. Exactly one year later the Louisiana team trades him again, this time towards the Milwaukee Bucks where he will end the 2018-2019 season.
In the summer of 2019 he decides to give up another NBA contract to return to Europe and sign for Barcelona. From 2019 to 2023 he contributed to winning the 2021 and 2023 ACB titles and reaching three consecutive Euroleague Final Fours (losing in the final in 2021), as well as obtaining the recognition of Euroleague MVP in the 2021-2022 season.
In the summer of 2023, due to the Catalan club’s policy of reducing wages, he left Spain to join Olimpia Milano and start another chapter in his career.
