Zoran Dragic

Zoran Dragic
Player information
birthday	June 22, 1989
place of birth	Ljubljana, SFR Yugoslavia
size	196 cm
position	Shooting Guard / Small Forward
Club information
society	Anadolu Efes
league	Basketbol Süper Ligi
Clubs as active
2004-2005 Ilirija Ljubljana 2005-2006 Jance STZ 2006-2010 KD Geoplin Slovan 2010-2012 KK Krka Novo Mesto 2012-2014 Unicaja Málaga 2014-2015 Phoenix Suns 2015 Miami Heat → 2015 Sioux Falls Skyforce 2015-2016 BC Khimki 2016-2017 Olimpia Milano 2017–2018 Anadolu Efes 2018–2019 Pallacanestro Trieste since 2019 Ratiopharm Ulm 00000 000 0
National team
	Slovenia

Zoran Dragić (born June 22, 1989 in Ljubljana , SR Slovenia ) is a Slovenian basketball player . Like his brother Goran Dragić , who was three years older than him, Zoran Dragić also played in the NBA , the highest endowed professional league , but only for one season in the NBA 2014/15 , but there as a pair of brothers at the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat. In the 2015/16 season, the younger Dragić returned to Europe, where he played for the Russian VTB vice-champion BK Chimki in the highest-ranking European club competition ULEB Euroleague , in which he had already played during his two years at Unicaja Málaga in Spain . The Slovenian international had previously won two championships in his home country as well as the EuroChallenge 2010/11 with the KK Krka.

Career

As a youngster Dragić played in men's teams and from 2006 onwards at KD Slovan from his hometown in the top national men's division. KD Slovan, previously runner-up in 2006, was passed in the table in the following seasons and missed the play-offs for the championship completely except for the semi-finals in 2007. After the club had only reached eighth place in 2010, Dragić moved to the master KK Krka from Novo mesto . With this team he was able to successfully defend the title in the following two seasons and was also named Most Valuable Player of the final series in 2011 when he participated in the finals for the first time. Both final series were won against record champions KK Union Olimpija from the capital, but in the 2011 Final Four tournament of the ABA league they lost in the semifinals to the national competitor. A year later you only reached eleventh and fourth from bottom in the ABA league. In the European club competition EuroChallenge 2010/11 one could defeat the German representative Telekom Baskets Bonn twice in the preliminary round and made it into the Final Four tournament. Here they surprisingly defeated the host Telenet Oostende and then in the final also the Russian representative Lokomotive Kuban Krasnodar and thus achieved the first international title win for the club. Like last year's winner BG Göttingen before they were invited to the Eurocup 2011/12 . In the competition, in which the club had reached the finals in its first season in 2003, they were eliminated after only one more victory in six intermediate round games before the quarter-finals played in the knockout system .

After two successful years at KK Krka, Dragić moved to the strong ACB league in Spain, where he played for the club CB Unicaja from Málaga , which was also a participant in the highest-ranking European club competition ULEB Euroleague . However, the old champion from 2006 again missed participation in the play-offs for the Spanish championship in 2013 in ninth place , before moving into fourth place a year later in 2014 until the semi-final series, in which defending champions Real Madrid were defeated. In the ULEB Euroleague 2012/13 the club was able to defeat the German representatives Brose Baskets and Alba Berlin three times in the second round, except for a home defeat against Alba Berlin , but missed the quarter-final play-offs in fifth place of the group. A year later, Zoran Dragić was even “Player of the Week” in the ULEB Euroleague 2013/14 on matchday nine of the intermediate round , but the team again missed qualifying for the play-offs in fifth place in the group. The following summer Dragić was a participant in the 2014 World Cup with the Slovenian men's national team in Spain . Dragić had previously made his debut at the 2011 European Championship finals in a Slovenian men's final squad when they reached seventh place, but lost their chances of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games due to a defeat in the placement game against Lithuania . Two years later, as the host of the 2013 European Championship finals , they lost in the quarter-finals against eventual title winners France , but qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals with two wins in placement games. At the World Cup finals, they only lost the final game in the group stage after half-time lead again against Lithuania and thus met the defending champions United States in the quarter-finals . This team, whose players from the NBA should also be Dragic 'competitors in the following season, the Slovenes were clearly defeated and eliminated.

For the NBA 2014/15 , Zoran Dragić, like his brother, got a contract in the highest endowed professional league in the United States. In a "move" that was supposed to underline the serious interest of the Phoenix Suns in a contract extension with Goran Dragić, the Suns now also gave his younger brother a contract. The interest of Goran Dragić in a contract extension was not noticeably increased and so the Suns had to agree to a player swap with the Miami Heat, who sent Goran and his brother Zoran to Florida . The Heat had only limited use for Zoran Dragić and in the meantime transferred him to their farm team Skyforce in Sioux Falls . After six appearances at the Suns, Zoran made ten appearances for the Heat, which missed the play-offs at the end of the season. After Zoran had played individual games in the 2015 NBA Summer League for the Heat, he was handed over to the Boston Celtics at the end of July , after it had already become clear that he would not be an issue when his brother Goran's contract was extended. The Celtics made space in their squad and released Zoran Dragić after 14 days from his contract, who then returned to Europe. At the 2015 European Championship finals , the Slovenian national team played without Goran Dragić and was therefore led into the round of 16 by his younger brother Zoran Dragić as an internal top scorer with almost 16 points per game. There they were defeated by the Latvian national team and again lost all chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games.

For the 2015/16 season, Zoran Dragić moved to the Russian club from Khimki in Moscow Oblast , which last year had almost traditionally won the runner-up behind PBK CSKA Moscow . As the title winner in the Eurocup 2014/15 , the team is also qualified for the ULEB Euroleague 2015/16 and, under coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, is considered a serious candidate for the Final Four tournament in Berlin.

In the summer of 2019 changed Dragić of Pallacanestro Trieste to Ratiopharm Ulm , where he received a one-year contract.

Web links

• Dragic, ZORAN - Player profile on the website of the Euro League ( English )
• Zoran Dragić - Overview of participation in international FIBA tournaments on archive.fiba.com (English)
• Zoran Dragic - player profile on basketball-reference.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ACB.COM: Zoran Dragic. Liga ACB , accessed November 22, 2015 (Spanish, player profile). 
2. ↑ Top 16, Round 9 bwin MVP: Zoran Dragic, Unicaja Malaga. ULEB Euroleague , March 8, 2014, accessed on November 22, 2015 (English, media info). 
3. ↑ Dave King: Goran Dragic wants out and the Phoenix Suns want to accommodate him - how it get this far? SB Nation , February 18, 2015, accessed November 22, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Ira Winderman: Goran Dragic has no issue with brother's shift to D-League. Sun-Sentinel.com, March 6, 2015, accessed November 22, 2015 .