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There is no doubt that international players have taken over the NBA, and the last among them, who will make the jump from the European courts to the NBA, is Vasilije Micic. Right after the NBA Free Agency started, the news came out that the Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed on a three-year, $23.5 million deal with Micic. The Serbian point guard is not a prospect who will look for his chance in the big league but is a player in his prime who has been dominating the EuroLeague scene in recent years.
Vasilije Micic Career
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Micic signed his first professional contract with the Serbian team Mega Vizura in 2010 and for two seasons, he was a teammate with Nikola Jokic. He was a very talented point guard and in 2014, the Philadelphia 76ers selected him with the 52nd pick in the NBA Draft, 11 picks after Jokic was drafted by the Denver Nuggets.
At that point, Micic was not ready for the NBA and he signed with Bayern Munich instead. He had a chance to work with the Serbian coach Svetislav Pesic, who led the Serbian national team to the 2002 World Cup title in Indianapolis. The following season, Micic spent some time on loan in Red Star Belgrade where he played with Boban Marjanovic among others.
In 2016, Micic sighed with the Turkish team Tofas where he took his game to the next level. The following season, he moved to Lithuania to play with Zalgiris, a team that was coached by one of the best European point guards ever, Sarunas Jasikevicius. The key move in Micic’s career happened in 2018, when he signed with Anadolu Efes.
Back-to-Back EuroLeague Titles
Playing for one of the best Turkish teams, Micic grew from a solid player to a real superstar of the European basketball. In 2021, Micic won the EuroLeague MVP award leading Efes to the EuroLeague title, also winning the Final Four MVP award. The following season, Efes repeat as the EuroLeague champion and Micic was named the Final Four MVP again, previously winning the scoring title in the competition.
Vasilije Micic Origin and Family
Micic was born in 1994 in Kraljevo, Serbia to his mother Vesela and father Dragan. He also has a younger sister named Nina who is a top-class snowboarder. At a very young age, Micic fell in love with skiing and his father still claims that he is a better skier than basketball player. Vasilije praises his father especially for his role after his mother passed away in 2019, when Micic was at the FIBA World Cup, representing Serbia.
“My father is a unique man. He actually put me in a situation to be in sports since I was two years old, I started skiing. After that, basketball and all other sports. He took over the role of my mother after her death, he did his best,” Micic says.
At the age of 8, Micic started playing basketball in the local team OKK Beograd. When he was 12, he had a short stint with one of the most popular teams in Serbia, Red Star, before he moved to the youth academy of FMP Zeleznik.
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