Nikola Kalinić (basketball)

Nikola Kalinić (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Калинић; born 8 November 1991) is a Serbian professional basketball player for FC Barcelona of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Serbian national basketball team internationally. He is a 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) tall small forward and he is often considered as a premier player at his position within European basketball.

For the Croatian football player, see Nikola Kalinić.
Nikola Kalinić
Kalinić with Fenerbahçe in 2019.
No. 10 – FC Barcelona
PositionSmall forward / power forward
LeagueLiga ACB
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1991-11-08) November 8, 1991
Subotica, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Listed height2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight105 kg (231 lb)
Career information
NBA draft2013: undrafted
Playing career2009–present
Career history
2009–2010Spartak Subotica
2010–2011Novi Sad
2011–2013Vojvodina Srbijagas
2013–2014Radnički Kragujevac
2014–2015Crvena zvezda
2015–2020Fenerbahçe
2020–2021Valencia
2021–2022Crvena zvezda
2022–presentFC Barcelona
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Serbia
Summer Olympics
Silver medal – second place2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam
World Cup
Silver medal – second place2014 SpainTeam
Mediterranean Games
Silver medal – second place2013 MersinTeam
Universiade
Bronze medal – third place2013 KazanTeam

Professional career

Early years

Kalinić made his professional debut with his hometown team Spartak Subotica. In the 2010–11 season, he played with KK Novi Sad, and then from 2011 to 2013, he played with Vojvodina Srbijagas.

In July 2013, he signed a three-year contract with Radnički Kragujevac.[1][2] Over 25 games played in the ABA League, he averaged 6.4 points and 4 rebounds per game.

Crvena zvezda

On July 21, 2014, Kalinić signed a three-year contract with Crvena zvezda.[3] In his debut EuroLeague season, he averaged 9.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2 assists per game, over 24 games played. In his first season with the club, he won a triple crown, winning the Serbian League, Serbian Cup, and ABA League.

Fenerbahçe

On July 31, 2015, Crvena zvezda announced that Kalinić moved to Fenerbahçe, for a buyout amount of €1 million euros.[4] On August 12, 2015, Fenerbahçe officially announced that Kalinić had signed a two-year contract, with the option of an additional year.[5]

In his first season with the team, Kalinić won the Turkish Cup title, in a 67–65 win over Darüşşafaka. Fenerbahçe also reached the finals game of the 2016 Euroleague Final Four, but fell short of winning the EuroLeague championship, after an overtime 96–101 loss to CSKA Moscow.[6] Over 29 EuroLeague games played that season, he averaged 4.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. At the end of the season, Fenerbahçe also won the Turkish League championship.

On July 7, 2017, Kalinić re-signed with Fenerbahçe for three more seasons.[7] In the 2017–18 EuroLeague season, Fenerbahçe made it to the 2018 EuroLeague Final Four, the club's fourth consecutive Final Four appearance. Eventually, they lost to Real Madrid, by a score of 80–85 in the finals game.[8] Over 19 EuroLeague games played that season, he averaged 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

Valencia

On July 18, 2020, Kalinić officially moved to Spanish EuroLeague club Valencia on a one-year contract.[9]

Return to Crvena zvezda

On July 15, 2021, Crvena zvezda announced that they had signed with Kalinić.[10] On April 27, 2022, Kalinić was selected the 2021–22 ABA League MVP.[11] The club won ABA League, Serbian League, and Serbian Cup in the 2021–22 season.

Barcelona

On July 12, 2022, Kalinić signed a two-year deal with FC Barcelona, after an agreement was also reached between Barcelona and Valencia concerning his Spanish league contract rights.

National team career
See also: 2016 Serbia men's Olympic basketball team

Kalinić represented the senior Serbia men's national basketball team at the EuroBasket 2013. He was also a member of the Serbian national basketball team that won the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, under new head coach Aleksandar Đorđević.

He represented Serbia once again at the EuroBasket 2015.[12] In the first phase of the tournament, Serbia dominated in the tournament's toughest group, Group B, with a 5–0 record, and then eliminated Finland and Czech Republic in the round of 16 and quarterfinal games, respectively. However, they were stopped in the semifinal game by Lithuania, by a score of 67–64,[13] and eventually lost to the host team France, in the bronze-medal game, by a score of 81–68.[14] Over 9 tournament games played, Kalinić averaged 5.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, on 69% shooting from the field and 33.3% shooting from the free-throw line.[15]

Kalinić also represented Serbia at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where they won the silver medal, after losing to the United States in the final game, by a score of 96–66.[16]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high  †  Won a EuroLeague championship *  Led the league

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2014–15 Crvena zvezda 241026.0.429.355.6273.92.0.8.29.29.1
2015–16 Fenerbahçe 291318.9.434.242.7113.31.2.4.24.65.4
2016–17† 332024.0.482.347.8373.11.5.8.37.58.3
2017–18 191317.5.494.286.8001.61.2.5.25.55.4
2018–19 351625.5.484.398.7853.31.8.7.29.610.5
2019–20 261222.9.426.314.8702.51.7.8.16.66.2
2020–21 Valencia 342526.6.533.333.7893.43.2.9.410.412.3
2021–22 Crvena zvezda 323230.1.436.276.7173.93.41.0.112.611.7
Career 23214124.2.466.325.7553.22.1.8.28.58.9

Domestic leagues
Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11Vojvodina SrbijagasKLS2323.2.536.238.8063.4.71.3.77.7
2011–123424.4.586.323.7263.81.71.6.49.0
2012–134226.0.603.381.7764.22.11.3.310.6
2013–14Radnički Kragujevac2422.6.429.300.7403.81.4.9.36.4
2014–15Crvena zvezda1823.1.577.358.6273.91.91.5.39.9
Adriatic League3422.8.618.382.7184.11.51.0.610.1

Personal life

Nikola is the son of former table tennis player Zoran Kalinić (born 1958), and Dragica (née Tošić), a former handball player.[17][18] His older brother Uroš (b. 1986) is a water polo player for Montpellier, while his sister Mina also played handball.[17][18] The children in the family all once played ping pong and went to tennis school.[17]

Kalinić injured his chin during childhood, leaving a visibly deformed chin with surgery failing to fix it. He has said that he suffers no pain from it.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Radnicki tabs Nikola Kalinic". Sportando. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  2. "Nikola Kalinić prešao u Radnički" (in Serbian). b92.net. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  3. "Kalinić prvo pojačanje Zvezde". b92.net (in Serbian). Večernje Novosti. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  4. "Kalinić u Fenerbahčeu za milion evra". kkcrvenazvezda.rs (in Serbian). 31 July 2015. Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. "Fenerbahce signs Kalinic away from Crvena Zvezda". Euroleague.net. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  6. "CSKA Moscow claims its seventh Euroleague crown after OT thriller". euroleague.net. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  7. "Fenerbahce, Kalinic together until 2020". Euroleague.net. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  8. "Real Madrid is 2018 EuroLeague champion". euroleague.net. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  9. Carchia, Emiliano (July 18, 2020). "Valencia signs Nikola Kalinic". Sportando. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  10. ""Kalina" se vratio svojoj kući!!!". kkcrvenazvezda.rs (in Serbian). 15 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  11. "2021/22 Regular Season NLB MVP: Nikola Kalinić (Crvena zvezda mts)". aba-liga.com. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  12. "AMBITIOUS SERBIA UNVEIL POWERFUL 12-MAN SQUAD". eurobasket2015.org. 2 September 2015. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  13. "LITHUANIA END SERBIAN STREAK, RETURN TO FINAL". eurobasket2015.org. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  14. "FRANCE REWARD HOME SUPPORT WITH BRONZE". eurobasket2015.org. 20 September 2015. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  15. "Player profile: Nikola Kalinic". eurobasket2015.org. FIBA Europe. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  16. "Rio Olympics 2016: USA beat Serbia in men's basketball to win last gold of Games". BBC Sport. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  17. "Zoran Kalinić za Blic: Nikola, zakucaj i Brazil!" (in Serbian). sport.blic.rs. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  18. "Dok je Zoran nizao medalje, Dragica je bila i mama i tata" (in Serbian). vesti-online.com. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  19. "KALINIĆEV OTAC: Nikola iz detinjstva vuče problem s vilicom! (FOTO)". telegraf.rs (in Serbian). 9 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
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