Nikola MirotiÄ‡

Nikola Mirotic Stajović (Cyrillic: Никола Миротић, born February 11, 1991 Titograd, Yugoslavia ) is a Spanish professional basketball player of Montenegrin origin. He plays the position of power forwards. He is currently with the Spanish club Real Madrid under contract.

Career

Nikola Mirotic began his junior career in 2004 in his hometown of Podgorica, at KK Joker. In summer 2006, the then 15 -year-old moved to Spain, in the youth of Real Madrid. The Brussels residents he played until 2009 in various youth teams, where he won the U- 20 Championship, among other things in the 2007/ 08 season. On 3 April 2009 he made his debut in the first team in a Euro League game against arch-rivals FC Barcelona. Just two days later, he played against CAI Zaragoza his league debut for the capital city. In order to give him more playing time, Real Madrid Mirotic awarded in the 2009/10 season at the LEB Oro Club CD Marists Palencia. After the end of the season he returned to the Spanish giants. At the start of the season he was rarely used, but through his strong performances from the end of 2010 he played noticeably in the core team and ousted veteran Jorge Garbajosa on the position of power forwards. Internationally Mirotic made attracted attention and received the ULEB Euro League Rising Star Trophy for the best player under 22 years of season 2010/11. On June 23, 2011 Mirotic was selected in the NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets as the 23rd pick and traded on the same evening to the Chicago Bulls. At Real Madrid, he is under contract until June 2016. In the 2011/12 season he was honored by the ULEB Euro League again as the best player under 22 years old, so the trophy was the first time in history two times in a row on the same player. In the 2012/13 season he reached with his team the finals of ULEB Euro League and was elected to the All- euro League Second Team. The reason for passage of the ACB league ended his team in first place and the 22 -year-old Mirotic was chosen for its individual performance as the youngest player in history to the MVP of the season. In the championship game to Real Madrid set 3-2 against FC Barcelona.

National

In March 2010, Mirotic was awarded Spanish citizenship and renounced his Montenegrin passport. In the summer of the same year, he won the Spanish U-20 national team the bronze medal at the European Championships. Only a year later he again took part with the U-20s at the European Championship finals. This time, the Iberians remained undefeated and took the gold medal. Mirotic even finished the competition with an average of 27 points and 10 rebounds per game and was chosen for its services to the MVP of the tournament.

Achievements and honors

Real Madrid

Spanish Cup: 2012/13
Spanish Supercup: 2012, 2013
Spanish Cup: 2011/ 12, 2013/14
Spanish U- 20 Championship: 2007/ 08

National

U-20 European Championship 2011: Gold
U-20 European Championships 2010: Bronze

Honors

MVP of the Spanish Cup in 2014
MVP of the ACB League 2012/13
All- Tournament Team of the ACB League 2012/13
All- Euro League Second Team 2012/13
Most Valuable Player (MVP), leading scorer and elected to the All- Tournament team of the U-20 European Championship 2011
ULEB Euro League Rising Star Trophy 2010/11 and 2011/12
Elected to the All- Tournament team of the U-20 European Championship 2010

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