# Jaka Blažič

Jaka Blažič (born 30 June 1990) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for Cedevita Olimpija of the Adriatic League and the Slovenian Basketball League. He also represents the Slovenian national basketball team. Standing at 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in), he plays the shooting guard and small forward positions.

## Early life

Born in the town of Jesenice in a family of athletes—skiing coach father Dušan Blažič and mother Ksenija who had formerly played volleyball—young Jaka took up basketball early. His younger sister Pia would go on to become a professional volleyball player.

## Professional career

Blažič started his professional career in 2007 with Triglav Kranj. From 2009 to 2011 he played with Geoplin Slovan.
In July 2011, he signed a three-year deal with Union Olimpija.
On 18 June 2013 Blažič signed a three-year deal with the Serbian team Crvena zvezda. On 14 September 2015 he parted ways with the club.
One day later, on 15 September 2015, he signed a three-year contract with the Spanish team Baskonia. On 3 July 2017 Blažič parted ways with Baskonia.
On 16 July 2017 Blazič signed with MoraBanc Andorra for the 2017–18 season. On 9 August 2018 Blazič signed a one-year deal with FC Barcelona Lassa of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.
On 20 July 2019 Blazič signed a two-year contract with Cedevita Olimpija.
On 2 June 2022 he signed with Bahçeşehir Koleji of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).

## National team career

As a member of the senior men's Slovenian national basketball team, Blažič competed at the EuroBasket 2013 and 2014 FIBA World Cup. He also represented Slovenia at the EuroBasket 2015 where they were eliminated by Latvia in eighth finals.
He was part of the national team at the 2017 EuroBasket and 2020 Summer Olympics where Slovenia took gold and fourth place, respectively.

## Career statistics
### EuroLeague

| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
| 2011–12 | Union Olimpija | 10 | 1 | 14.2 | .350 | .182 | .600 | 2.4 | .4 | .2 | .0 | 3.6 | 2.3 |
| 2012–13 | Union Olimpija | 10 | 9 | 28.3 | .373 | .278 | .731 | 4.0 | 1.9 | .5 | .0 | 12.4 | 10.9 |
| 2013–14 | Crvena zvezda | 10 | 2 | 19.7 | .462 | .345 | .750 | 3.5 | 1.1 | .9 | .2 | 10.3 | 8.8 |
| 2014–15 | Crvena zvezda | 24 | 10 | 21.4 | .422 | .309 | .750 | 2.8 | 1.0 | .5 | .1 | 9.1 | 5.8 |
| 2015–16 | Baskonia | 29 | 3 | 19.0 | .432 | .352 | .793 | 3.2 | .6 | .6 | 0 | 7.8 | 6.4 |
| 2016–17 | Baskonia | 33 | 7 | 13.9 | .397 | .387 | .560 | 2.1 | .5 | .5 | 0 | 4.7 | 3.3 |
| 2018–19 | Barcelona | 25 | 7 | 13.7 | .465 | .387 | .809 | 2.3 | .6 | .4 | .1 | 5.2 | 5.7 |
| Career | Career | 141 | 39 | 17.6 | .418 | .338 | .743 | 2.7 | .7 | .5 | .1 | 7.0 | 5.7 |

## Personal life
### 2014 traffic accident

In the early morning hours of Saturday, 4 October 2014, Blažič caused a traffic accident while driving under the influence, slamming his Volkswagen Golf into the back of a taxi vehicle while changing lanes at the corner of Nemanjina and Resavska streets in central Belgrade. No injuries were reported as the traffic patrol administered a breathalyzer test on the twenty-four-year-old KK Crvena zvezda basketball player, determining his blood alcohol level was above the 0.5‰ legal limit in Serbia. Several hours earlier, Friday evening 3 October 2014, Blažič had played in KK Crvena zvezda's opening game of the 2014–15 Adriatic League season versus Levski Sofia, an 85-55 blowout win in which he contributed 8 points including a spectacular dunk.
Later in the day, after paying the RSD16,000 (~€135) fine to the misdemeanor judge, Blažič publicly apologized "to the taxi driver whose car I hit, as well as to my club and its fans" while his club Crvena zvezda fined him according to its own disciplinary code of conduct by reportedly docking the amount of two monthly salaries from his pay.