Nikola Kalinić (basketball)


Nikola Kalinić is a Serbian professional basketball player for Valencia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He also represented the senior Serbian national basketball team internationally. He is a tall small forward.

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. 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. 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. On August 12, 2015, Fenerbahçe officially announced that Kalinić had signed a two-year contract, with the option of an additional year.
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. 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 Tukish League championship.
On July 7, 2017, Kalinić re-signed with Fenerbahçe for three more seasons. 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. 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.

National team career

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. 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, and eventually lost to the host team France, in the bronze-medal game, by a score of 81–68. 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.
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.

Career statistics

†Denotes season in which Kalinić's team won the EuroLeague

EuroLeague

Domestic leagues

Personal life

Nikola is the son of former table tennis player Zoran Kalinić, and Dragica, a former handball player. His older brother Uroš is a water polo player for Montpellier, while his sister Mina also played handball. The children in the family all once played ping pong and went to tennis school.
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.