Jaka Lakovič

Player information
Jaka Lakovič

birthday	9th July 1978 (age 42)
place of birth	Ljubljana , SFR Yugoslavia
size	186 cm
Weight	95 kg
position	Point guard
Clubs as active
1996-2001	Slovenia KD Slovan Ljubljana
2001-2002	Slovenia KK KrKa Novo mesto
2002-2006	Greece Panathinaikos Athens
2006-2011	Spain FC Barcelona
2011-2013	Turkey Galatasaray Istanbul
2013-2014	Italy Sidigas Avelino
2014-2015	Turkey Gaziantep Basketbol
2015-2016	Spain FC Barcelona II
National team
2001-2013	Slovenia Slovenia
Clubs as coaches
2017-2018	Spain Bilbao Basket (assistant coach)
2018	Spain Bilbao Basket
2018-2019	Spain Joventut de Badalona (Assistant Trainer)
2019–	Germany ratiopharm Ulm
National team as coach
2017	Slovenia Slovenia (assistant coach)

Jaka Lakovič (born July 9, 1978 in Ljubljana , SFR Yugoslavia ) is a former Slovenian basketball player and current coach.

Player career

Lakovič in Galatasaray's jersey

Club career

Lakovič started his career in 1996 at KD Slovan Ljubljana . In 2001 he switched to Krka Novo mesto , with whom he also competed for the first time in the ULEB Euroleague and was able to draw attention to himself in the first season with an average of 20.9 points and 3.8 assists . Although his performance was not enough to qualify for the knockout round of the competition, with his subsequent club change in 2002 to the top European club Panathinaikos Athens , Lakovič still achieved his international breakthrough.

In Greece he became a regular player and won four national championships in the following four years and was also able to win the cup three times with Panathinaikos. In 2006, Lakovič moved to FC Barcelona , where he was under contract for five years and was able to win the ULEB Euroleague in 2010.

The playmaker was later under contract with Galatasaray Istanbul in Turkey , followed by a move to Italy, another detour to Turkey and, at the end of his playing days, a year in the second team of FC Barcelona.

National team

Lakovič was an integral part of the Slovenian national team from 2001 to 2014 and sometimes also captain. With the selection of his country, he took part in the 2006 and 2010 World Championships, the 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 European Championships and the 2008 Olympic qualifying round.

Coaching career

At the 2017 European Championship, Lakovič was assistant coach of the Slovenian national team, which became European champions. In the 2017/18 season, Lakovič was an assistant coach on the staff of the Spanish first division club Bilbao Basket . At the end of April 2018, he was appointed head coach for the rest of the season. The Slovenian then worked as an assistant coach for another first division club in Spain, Joventut de Badalona , in 2018/19 . In June 2019 he was introduced as the new head coach of the Bundesliga club Ratiopharm Ulm .