Dejan Vasiljevic (born 26 April 1997) is an Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball at the University of Miami.

Early life

Vasiljevic was born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, the son of Serbian handball player Todor Vasiljević. He moved with his family to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at the age of six. Growing up, Vasiljevic played soccer, tennis, and cricket, and did not begin playing basketball until the age of 12. His father attempted to mold him after Croatian basketball player Drazen Petrovic and enrolled his son at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

. Vasiljevic was recruited by

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, but he signed with

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

because he liked the academics and his family loved the city.

College career

Vasiljevic set the Miami freshman record for made three-pointers (51) while averaging 6.0 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. He posted 9.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore, while shooting 41.1 percent from three-point range. At the end of his sophomore season, Vasiljevic suffered a stress fracture in his foot. Instead of surgery, he went on a nutrition plan crafted by his girlfriend, and lost some weight. As a junior, Vasiljevic averaged 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game on a team that finished 14–18. Following his junior season, Vasiljevic considered turning professional, but was persuaded to return by coach

Jim Larrañaga James Joseph Larrañaga ( ; born October 2, 1949) is the head men's basketball coach for the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He has held this position since 2011. Before joining the University of Miami, he served as the head men ...

. On 21 November 2019, he scored a career-high 25 points including the two clinching foul shots with 1.2 seconds remaining in a 74–70 win over

Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

. As a senior, Vasiljevic averaged 13.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He scored 1,271 points in his college career, ranking 21st on the Hurricane's all-time list, and is second in made three-pointers with 272.

Professional career

Sydney Kings (2020–present)

On 17 July 2020, Vasiljevic signed a three-year deal with the

of the National Basketball League (NBL). In July 2022, Vasiljevic joined the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

for the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. On 4 January 2023, Vasiljevic scored a career-high 42 points with ten 3-pointers in a 118–102 win over the

South East Melbourne Phoenix The South East Melbourne Phoenix are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The Phoenix entered the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) in the 2019–20 ...

National team career

Vasiljevic has represented Australia at several international tournaments. In the 2013 FIBA Oceania U16 Tournament, he averaged 20 points per game. He won a silver medal at the

2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship The 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship (Arabic: بطولة العالم لكرة السلة 2014 تحت 17 سنة ) was the 3rd edition of the FIBA Under-17 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship cont ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

and was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 17.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. At the

2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Greek: Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα FIBA Under-19 2015) was the 12th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by th ...

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

, Vasiljevic averaged 13.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. In 2019, he helped his team win bronze at the

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

in Italy, scoring 33 points in the consolation win against Israel.

References

External links

NBL profileMiami Hurricanes bioTwitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasiljevic, Dejan 1997 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian people of Serbian descent Basketball people from Alberta Basketball players from Melbourne Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Miami Hurricanes men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Calgary Sydney Kings players Universiade bronze medalists for Australia Universiade medalists in basketball