Ante Žižić

Ante Toni Žižić (Croatian pronunciation: [antɛ ʐǐːʐitɕ]; born 4 January 1997) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League and the Euroleague. He was selected 23rd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2016 NBA draft.

Ante Žižić
Žižić with the Cavaliers in 2019
No. 23 – Maccabi Tel Aviv
PositionCenter
LeagueIsraeli Premier League
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1997-01-04) 4 January 1997
Split, Croatia
NationalityCroatian
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight266 lb (121 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2016 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career2013–present
Career history
2013–2014Kaštela
2014–2016Cibona
2014→ Gorica
2016–2017Darüşşafaka
2017–2020Cleveland Cavaliers
2017–2018→ Canton Charge
2020–presentMaccabi Tel Aviv
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Croatia
FIBA U19 World Cup
2015 Greece U-19 Team
FIBA U18 Europe Championship
2014 Turkey U-18 Team

Professional career

Europe

Žižić's first team was KK Split, in the 2013–14 season, but he played for their junior team, in which he only played in 3 games. He then moved to the Cedevita Zagreb's junior team, and with them he played in 5 games. To start the 2014–15 season, he played for Gorica.

He moved to Cibona Zagreb for the rest of the season. In that year, he averaged 7.4 points, 0.3 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.9 blocks, in 15.5 minutes per game, in 25 games played in the Adriatic League. His breakout season was in the 2015–16 season.

He was named the 2015–16 ABA League season's Top Prospect. In that season, he averaged 12.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 24.8 minutes per game, in 26 games played in the Adriatic League.[1] He was also named to the European-wide 3rd-tier level FIBA Europe Cup's Starting Five Team of the 2015–16 season.

On 11 October 2016, Žižić was named the MVP of the fourth week of the 2016–17 ABA League season. After he scored 37 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, in Cibona's win against MZT Skopje Aerodrom, by the final score of 89–85, in a game that was decided after two overtimes.[2] On 27 December 2016, Žižić left Cibona, and signed with the Turkish team Darüşşafaka Doğuş, of the Turkish Super League.[3]

With Darüşşafaka, Žižić made his debut in the European top-tier level, the EuroLeague, on 30 December 2016, in an 81–77 road loss against FC Barcelona. In his first EuroLeague game, Žižić had 4 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.[4]

NBA

Žižić was selected with the 23rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, by the Boston Celtics.[5]

On 1 July 2017, Žižić signed with the Boston Celtics.[6] Before even suiting up for a single regular season game for the Celtics, Žižić was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected 2018 first round pick for Kyrie Irving on 22 August 2017.[7] However, eight days after the trade was first confirmed, the Celtics would also add a 2020 second round pick from the Miami Heat in order to fully complete the deal to satisfy Cleveland's worries involving Isaiah Thomas' hip injury. [8]

Žižić has been going back and forth from Cleveland to Canton many times throughout his rookie season, mainly because he didn't see much regular playing time with the Cleveland. However, after the All-Star break of 2018, he started seeing more minutes, primarily due to injuries of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. His best game of the period came on 11 March, when he scored 15 points and had 7 rebounds (both career-highs at that moment) in a loss to Los Angeles Lakers. In the last game of the regular season, however, he improved on that by scoring 20 points and grabbing 7 rebounds again. The Cavaliers made it to the 2018 NBA Finals, but lost the series 4-0 to the Golden State Warriors.

Return to Europe

On 25 August 2020, Žižić signed a two-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv.[9]

National team career

Žižić played with the junior national teams of Croatia. With Croatia's junior national teams, he played at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, where he won a bronze medal, and at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where he won a silver medal.

Personal life

Žižić's older brother, Andrija, was also a professional basketball player. The two brothers were teammates at Cibona Zagreb, in the 2015–16 season.[10] His older brother played in 107 EuroLeague games, with Cibona Zagreb, FC Barcelona, Olympiacos, and Panathinaikos, and he also won a EuroLeague championship with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017–18 Cleveland 3226.7.731–.7248.91.2.8.93.7
2018–19 Cleveland 592516.3.553–.70511.91.7.82.17.8
2019–20 Cleveland 22010.0.569–.7373.0.3.3.54.4
Career 1132713.4.581–.7113.9.6.2.46.0

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2018 Cleveland 802.9.500-.100.8.1.0.11.6
Career 802.9.500-.500.8.1.0.11.6

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2016–17 Darüşşafaka 201721.9.649.000.6436.7.4.2.89.013.3
Career 201721.9.649.000.6436.7.4.2.89.013.3

See also

References
  1. "2015/16 Top Prospect: Ante Žižić". ABA-Liga.com. 9 March 2016. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  2. "Round 4 MVP: Ante Žižić (Cibona)". ABA-Liga.com. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  3. "Darussafaka Dogus signs Ante Zizic". Sportando.com. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  4. FC BARCELONA LASSA 81 DARUSSAFAKA DOGUS ISTANBUL 77 DECEMBER 30, 2016.
  5. "Boston Celtics 2016 Draft Results". NBA.com. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  6. "Celtics Sign Jayson Tatum, Ante Zizic". NBA.com. 1 July 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  7. "Celtics Acquire Four-Time All-Star Kyrie Irving". NBA.com. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  8. https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/8/30/16224168/kyrie-irving-trade-to-celtics-finalized-with-boston-adding-2020-second-round-pick
  9. "Ante Zizic is officially a newcomer of Maccabi Tel Aviv". Sportando. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  10. "Brother vs. Brother, Andrija vs. Ante" (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. 10 May 2013.
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