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Ante Žižić
Ante Žižić - Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Brooklyn Nets (cropped).jpg
Žižić with the Cavaliers in 2019
No. 41 – Virtus Bologna
Center
Personal information
Born (1997-01-04) 4 January 1997 (age 27)
Split, Croatia
Nationality Croatian
Listed height 2.10 m (6 ft 10.68 in)
Listed weight 121 kg (267 lb)
Career information
NBA Draft 2016 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Pro career 2013–present
League LBA
EuroLeague
Career history
2013–2014 Kaštela
2014–2016 Cibona
2014 → Gorica
2016–2017 Darüşşafaka
2017–2020 Cleveland Cavaliers
2017–2018 → Canton Charge
2020–2022 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2022–2023 Anadolu Efes
2023–present Virtus Bologna
Career highlights and awards
  • Turkish League champion (2023)
  • Israeli League winner 2021
  • Israeli Cup winner (2021)
  • Israeli League Cup winner (2021)
  • Turkish Super Cup winner (2022)
  • FIBA Europe Cup Starting Five (2016)
  • ABA League Top Prospect (2016)
  • Turkish Super Cup MVP (2022)
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Croatia
FIBA U19 World Cup
Silver 2015 Greece U-19 Team
FIBA U18 Europe Championship
Bronze 2014 Turkey U-18 Team

Ante Toni Žižić (Croatian pronunciation: [antɛ ʐǐːʐitɕ]; born 4 January 1997) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He was selected 23rd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2016 NBA draft.

Professional career

Kaštela (2013–2014)

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.

Gorica (2014)

To start the 2014–15 season, Žižić played for Gorica.

Cibona (2014–2016)

Žižiće 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. He scored 37 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in Cibona's 89–85 win over MZT Skopje Aerodrom, in a game that was decided after double overtime.

Darüşşafaka (2016–2017)

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.

Cleveland Cavaliers (2017–2020)

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 Thomas's 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.

Maccabi Tel Aviv (2020–2022)

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.

On 9 May 2022, during a game against Hapoel Haifa, Žižić lost consciousness after hitting his head on the ground. He was rushed to a hospital and regained consciousness later that night.

On 21 June 2022, Žižić officially parted ways with the Israeli club after two seasons.

Anadolu Efes (2022–2023)

On 22 June 2022, Žižić signed a three-year (2+1) contract with Turkish club Anadolu Efes, the reigning back-to-back EuroLeague champions.

Virtus Bologna (2023–present)

On 31 December 2023, Žižić signed a two-year contract with Italian powerhouse Virtus Bologna.

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

Ante Zizic
Žižić at an U16 tournament in 2013

Žižić's older brother, Andrija, is a former professional basketball player. The two brothers were teammates at Cibona Zagreb during 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.

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

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017–18 Cleveland 32 2 6.7 .731 .724 1.9 .2 .1 .4 3.7
2018–19 Cleveland 59 25 18.3 .553 .705 5.4 .9 .2 .4 7.8
2019–20 Cleveland 22 0 10.0 .569 .737 3.0 .3 .3 .2 4.4
Career 113 27 13.4 .581 .711 3.9 .6 .2 .4 6.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2018 Cleveland 8 0 2.9 .500 - .500 .8 .1 .0 .1 1.6
Career 8 0 2.9 .500 - .500 .8 .1 .0 .1 1.6

EuroLeague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2016–17 Darüşşafaka 20 17 21.9 .649 .643 6.7 .4 .2 .8 9.0 13.3
2020–21 Maccabi 34 30 19.9 .589 .771 5.4 .7 .4 .8 9.1 11.4
2021–22 31 28 21.1 .667 .730 5.0 .6 .5 .8 12.2 15.5
2022–23 Anadolu Efes 31 13 15.7 .703 .655 3.7 .7 .4 .3 7.7 10.0
2023–24 Anadolu Efes 13 7 15.8 .714 .700 2.8 .7 .5 .2 6.5 9.0
Bologna 17 3 13.0 .574 .400 2.6 .5 .1 .6 3.5 4.5
Career 146 98 18.4 .646 .686 4.6 .6 .4 .6 8.6 11.2

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Ante Žižić para niños

  • List of European basketball players in the United States
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