Zoran Planinić


Zoran Planinić is a Croatian former professional basketball player.

Early years

Planinić was born in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the former Yugoslavia. He started his basketball career at HKK Brotnjo Čitluk from Čitluk, Bosnia and Herzegovina and was noticed by KK Cibona where he continued his junior career.

Professional career

In the 1999–2000 season, he started his professional career on loan to Benston Zagreb.
He returned to Cibona Zagreb in 2000 and he was named the Croatian League MVP in 2001. He stayed with Cibona until 2003.
In the 2003 NBA draft, the , point guard/shooting guard was drafted 22nd overall by the New Jersey Nets. In three NBA seasons he averaged 4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Planinić's three NBA seasons were not notable, with his only distinguishing moment coming in the 2005–06 season, when he hit a spectacular full-court, 77-foot, 3rd-quarter-ending buzzer beater at a November 9, 2005, home win against the Utah Jazz.
In the summer of 2006, Planinić and the Nets agreed to a buyout, in which he was sent back to Europe to spend the season with TAU Cerámica of the Spanish ACB League, a team that also featured talented NBA prospect Tiago Splitter. With TAU Cerámica, Planinić won the Spanish Supercup championship in both 2006 and 2007, and the Spanish League championship in 2008.
On June 25, 2008, Planinić signed a two-year contract with the Russian Superleague A club CSKA Moscow. On June 17, 2010, decided to sign a 2+1 contract with the Russian PBL club BC Khimki.
On July 27, 2013, he signed a two-year contract with Anadolu Efes. In January 2014, he hit a long-range buzzer beater in the last second of the game to defeat Olimpia Milano by a score of 61–60. In his first season with the team, he averaged 8.4 points and 3.7 assists, over 23 EuroLeague games. In the summer of 2014, Dušan Ivković was appointed as Efes' head coach, and Planinić lost his place in the team. Despite that, he was still under contract for the 2014–15 season.

EuroLeague career statistics

Croatian national team

Planinić was part of the Croatian junior national teams that won the bronze medal at the 1999 FIBA Under-19 World Cup and the silver medal at the 2001 FIBA Under-21 World Cup.
Planinić was also a part of the senior men's Croatian national basketball teams at EuroBaskets 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.