Nikola Mirotić

Nikola Mirotić (Никола Миротић; born 11 February 1991) is a Montenegrin-Spanish professional basketball player for Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague.

The power forward is a four-time All-EuroLeague Team member, and previously played for Real Madrid of the Liga ACB.

In the summer of 2005, at the age of 14, Mirotić signed a junior contract with Real Madrid.

After playing for the Real Madrid juniors from 2006 to 2008, Mirotić signed with the Real Madrid senior team in 2008.

During the 2010–11 Euroleague season, he emerged as one of his team's most valuable players, and won the EuroLeague Rising Star award.

Mirotić was drafted with the 23rd pick in the 2011 NBA draft, and played in the NBA from 2014 for the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks, before returning to Spain in the 2019 offseason.

Growing up in Montenegro, football was Mirotić's true passion.

As he got older, his family realized his height could be a lot more useful for another sport.

At the age of 13, his grandfather introduced him to basketball.

Mirotić started playing basketball with the Joker School in Podgorica run by retired professional basketball player Jadran Vujačić.

In April 2011, he signed a five-year contract extension with Real Madrid.

On 23 June 2011, Mirotić was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

He was later traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and again to the Chicago Bulls on draft night.

With Real Madrid, he won the Spanish King's Cup and the Spanish Supercup in 2012.

In the 2012–13 Euroleague season, he finished second in the EuroLeague Rising Star voting to Kostas Papanikolaou, and he was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team.

In May 2014, he was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team, for the second consecutive season.

In a total of 97 EuroLeague games for Real Madrid, Mirotić averaged 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

On 18 July 2014, Mirotić signed with the Chicago Bulls to a reported three-year, $16.6 million contract.

In addition, Mirotić was required to pay $3 million to Real Madrid for his contract buyout.

On 19 December 2014, Mirotić scored a then career-high 27 points, as he converted all six of his three-pointers, in a 103–97 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

On 5 January 2015, he was named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in December.

During the NBA's All-Star Weekend, Mirotić played for World Team in the Rising Stars Challenge.

He scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field in the World's 121–112 win over Team USA.

On 1 March, he scored a career-high 29 points in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

With injuries impacting teammates during the month of March, Mirotić was expected to fill a larger role for his team.

He averaged 20.8 points and 7.6 rebounds while playing 30.8 minutes per game.

In his rookie season, Mirotić averaged 10.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 82 games, giving him the recognition as a candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Mirotić finished second in Rookie of the Year voting with 335 votes behind Andrew Wiggins who received 604 votes.

He played his first post-season game in the NBA on 18 April 2015 in game 1 of the Bulls' first-round series match-up against the Milwaukee Bucks.

In 13 minutes off the bench, he recorded 5 points and 5 rebounds.

At the beginning of the 2015–16 season, Mirotić had a starting role ahead of All-Star center Joakim Noah.

He scored a team-high 19 points in the season opening win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He started in all 18 games to begin the season, coming off the bench for the first time on 9 December against the Boston Celtics, scoring 10 points in 22 minutes of action.

He continued coming off the bench following 9 December, in a back-up role to Taj Gibson.

His next start came on 21 December against the Brooklyn Nets, as he started at small forward in place of Tony Snell.

On 1 January, he recorded 17 points and a career-high seven assists in a 108–81 win over the New York Knicks.

On 27 January, he was diagnosed with an acute appendicitis and was subsequently ruled out until after the All-Star break.

He returned to action on 5 March against the Houston Rockets after missing 16 games.

On 23 March, he scored a career-high 35 points in a loss to the New York Knicks.

On 26 December 2016, less than two weeks after falling out of the rotation for a couple of games, Mirotić recorded a then-season-high 20 points in a 90–85 win over the Indiana Pacers.