Aleks Marić
Aleksandar Marić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар "Алекс“ Марић, born 22 October 1984) is an Australian-Serbian former professional basketball player. Marić gained a reputation as a winner over the course of his successful European career, securing contracts with several basketball powerhouse outfits. Rising to stardom at Partizan Belgrade in 2010, he was part of a Serbian Cup and Adriatic League championship winning team, as well as an All-EuroLeague First Team member. That breakout season earned him selection to the Australian national team for the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 London Olympics. In 2019, he became an assistant  coach with the Sydney Kings. Early life and career. Marić began playing basketball as a youth in Sydney before attending the Australian Institute of Sport. He played high school basketball in the United States at Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey. He then played college basketball at the University of Nebraska with the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 2004 to 2008, where he was named second-team All-Big 12 Conference in both 2007 and 2008. Professional career. Marić began his professional career in July 2008 with the Spanish ACB League club Granada. At the end of the season, on 30  June 2009, he exercised the option in his contract and decided to leave the club. On 7 July 2009, Marić signed multi-year deal with the Serbian club Partizan. During his first season in Partizan, Marić went from the status of a relatively unknown basketball player to one of a EuroLeague star, all thanks to his great games throughout the season. In 93–92 win over Efes Pilsen in the EuroLeague, he scored 34 points, pulled 16 rebounds and had 49 performance index rating which was record of the season, along with Darjuš Lavrinovič who also had 49 in the same  season. That made them 8th overall in PIR since the beginning of the 2000–01 Euroleague season. He was named to the 2009–10 All-EuroLeague Team. With Partizan, he managed to win the Serbian national cup trophy (the Radivoj Korać Cup), as well as the Adriatic Championship in the amazing overtime finish. On 30 July 2010, Marić signed a two-year contract with the Greek club Panathinaikos. In his first season with the club, he won the EuroLeague title in win over the Maccabi Tel Aviv. Later, he won and the Greek Basket League championship. In his second season, he won  the Greek basketball cup. On 27 July 2012, Marić signed with the VTB United League club Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. On 2 September 2014, Marić signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. On 25 December 2014, he was waived by Maccabi. The next day, he signed with the Turkish team Galatasaray Liv Hospital. On 3 March 2015, he left Galatasaray and signed with Petrochimi Bandar Imam of the Iranian Super League. On 29 April 2015, he left Petrochimi and signed with the Spanish club Gran Canaria for the rest of the 2014–15 ACB season. On 3 September 2015, Marić signed with the Montenegrin  club Budućnost Podgorica for the 2015–16 season. After some miserable showings in the first few games of the ABA League, he led his team to an 80–61 win over Tajfun with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and was subsequently named the MVP of Round 5. On 4 April 2016, he left Budućnost and signed with Spanish club Rio Natura Monbus Obradoiro for the rest of the 2015–16 ACB season. On 29 June 2016, Marić signed a one-year deal (with a team option for a second year) with his hometown Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League. On 9 March  2017, Marić signed with Rio Natura Monbus Obradoiro for the rest of the 2016–17 ACB season. On 26 June 2017, Marić signed with Al-Muharraq of the Bahraini Premier League. He played one game for the team. Australian national team. With the Australian junior national team, Marić won the gold medal at the 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. He also played at the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship with Australia's junior national team. Media reports emanating from Serbia stated Maric had expressed a desire to play for the senior Serbia national basketball team, however this was later denied by  Maric. Marić played for the senior Australia national basketball team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. Marić averaged 9.2 points and 4.3 rebounds over 6 games at the tournament. He also played with Australia at the 2012 Olympics in London where Australia lost 119–86 in quarterfinal matchup with the United States. Post-playing career. In July 2019, Marić was appointed an assistant coach by the Sydney Kings. Personal life. Marić was born in Sydney, to ethnic Serb parents from Knin, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. He subsequently has Serbian citizenship. His grandfather Steve was killed at his home during  Operation Storm and his body was exhumed from a mass grave 17 years later.