Ivan Paunić ( sr-cyr, Иван Паунић; born January 27, 1987) is a Serbian 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 Russian team

Lokomotiv Kuban PBC Lokomotiv Kuban (russian: ПБК «Локомотив Кубань») is a Russian professional basketball team based in Krasnodar. The club participates in the VTB United League. The team is one of the top tier basketball teams in Russia. T ...

of the VTB United League, and of the EuroCup until the team was suspended due to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. He also represented the

Serbian national basketball team Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation) ...

internationally.

Professional career

Paunić began playing basketball at a professional level in the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

when he was a teenager, beginning with Serbian club

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

in the 2004–05 season. He spent next season on loan at

Mega Ishrana Košarkaški klub Mega Basket ( sr-cyr, Кошаркашки клуб Мега Баскет), commonly referred to as KK Mega Basket or as Mega MIS due to sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. The ...

and Mornar. In 2006 he was sent to Vojvodina Srbijagas. He spent two seasons in Vojvodina, and then in 2008 went to Oostende. In December 2009 he goes to Greece and signed with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

. In August 2010, Paunić signed with the Russian team

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

where he stayed till April 2012, when he moved to Italy and signed with Virtus Bolgna for the rest of the season. Paunic was the best player and scorer in Nizhny Novgorod In July 2012, Paunić signed with the Ukrainian side

Azovmash MBC Mariupol ( uk, МБК «Маріуполь», formerly BK Azovmash) was a Ukrainian professional basketball club. It was founded in 1990 in the city of Mariupol in South-Eastern Ukraine. Mariupol was one of the strongest teams in Ukraine alo ...

. He left them in December 2012. Couple days later he signed with Lagun Aro GBC till the end of the season. On September 25, 2013, he signed a one-year deal with

Baloncesto Fuenlabrada Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, S.A.D., known as just Fuenlabrada and also Carplus Fuenlabrada because of sponsorship reasons,, is a professional basketball team based in Fuenlabrada, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and plays their home games at Fe ...

. On October 30, 2014, he signed with Astana in Kazakhstan. On December 18, 2014, he left Astana and signed with

Budućnost Podgorica Budućnost means "the future" in many Slavic languages, and it may also refer to: *SD Budućnost Podgorica, a sports society from Podgorica, Montenegro ** KK Budućnost Podgorica, a professional basketball club FK Budućnost may refer to: * FK Bud ...

for the rest of the season. On August 25, 2015, he returned to Baloncesto Fuenlabrada. Playing for Fuenlabrada, Ivan Paunic was the club's top scorer and best three point shooter in the league On August 1, 2016, he re-signed with Fuenlabrada for one more season. On September 25, 2017, he signed a contract with Turkish club

Tofaş Tofaş (acronym for ''Türk Otomobil Fabrikası Anonim Şirketi''; ''Turkish Automobile Factory Joint-Stock Company'' pronounced ) is a Turkish automobile manufacturer which was established in 1968 by Vehbi Koç, who was the founder of Koç Hold ...

. On April 5, 2019, he has signed with Chemidor Tehran of the Iranian Super League. On February 13, 2020, he signed with Mega Bemax of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia ( sr, Кошаркашка лига Србије, Košarkaška liga Srbije; abbr. КЛС or KLS), is a top-tier men's professional basketball league in Serbia. Founded in 2006, it is run by the Basketball Federatio ...

. On October 14, 2020, he signed with

of the VTB United League, and of the EuroCup until the team was suspended due to the

Serbian national team

Paunić was a member of the Serbian national team that competed at the EuroBasket 2009 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and won the silver medal. He played at the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

in Turkey where Serbia was fourth, and at the

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

in Lithuania where Serbia finished eight of 24 teams.

References

External links