Ante Žižić
Ante Toni Žižić (; 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. 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. 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. On 27 December 2016, Žižić left Cibona, and signed with the Turkish team Darüşşafaka Doğuş, of the Turkish Super League. 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. NBA. Žižić was selected with the 23rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, by the Boston Celtics. On 1 July 2017, Žižić signed with the Boston Celtics. 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. 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. Žižić spent time with the Canton Charge during his rookie season. On 11 March, he scored 15 points and recorded 7 rebounds (both career-highs) in a loss to Los Angeles Lakers. In the last game of the regular season, he scored 20 points and recorded 7 rebounds. 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 Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2020-21, he led the league with a .699 field goal percentage, and was 10th in the Euroleague with 0.8 blocks per game. 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. 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.