Nikola "Nick" Rakocevic ( sr-cyr, Никола Ракочевић; born December 31, 1997) 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 the Jilin Northeast Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

and attended

St. Joseph High School St. Joseph's School, St. Joseph's Catholic School, St Joseph's School, St Joseph's Catholic School, and variants are frequently used school names, and may refer to: Africa * St Joseph's School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Asia * St Joseph Higher Secon ...

Westchester, IL Westchester is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a western suburb of Chicago. The population was 16,892 at the 2020 census. The current Village President is Nick Steker, serving in the special role of acting president after ...

. Born in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, he represents

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

internationally.

High school career

Rakocevic was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to Momo and Denise Rakocevic. His father emigrated from

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia at age 25. Rakocevic played for

in Westchester, Illinois under coach

Gene Pingatore Eugene Louis Pingatore (October 25, 1936 – June 26, 2019) was an American basketball coach who served as the head boys' basketball coach at St. Joseph High School (Westchester, Illinois), St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a suburb ...

. As a junior, he was a starter on the Class 3A state championship team. In his senior season, Rakocevic averaged 19.8 points, 14.4 rebounds and four blocks per game, leading his team to the Class 3A Westinghouse Sectional title. He earned First Team All-State honors from the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. On April 11, 2016, he committed to play college basketball for

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

over offers from

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

, Arizona State and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

College career

Rakocevic averaged 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as a freshman at USC, serving as a part-time starter. On March 13, 2018, he recorded 24 points and a career-high 19 rebounds in a 103–98 double overtime win over

UNC Asheville The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville, UNCA, or simply Asheville) is a public liberal arts university in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. UNC Asheville is the designated liberal arts institution in the University of N ...

. He grabbed the most rebounds by a USC player in a game since

David Bluthenthal David Blu (born David Bluthenthal; July 18, 1980) is an American–Israeli former professional basketball player, who spent 10 seasons playing in the EuroLeague. Standing at , he played at the small forward and power forward positions. He is c ...

in 2000. As a sophomore, Rakocevic averaged 8.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, shooting 62.7 percent, the second-highest field goal percentage in program history. In his junior season, he averaged 14.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Rakocevic was a two-time

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Player of the Week and was named All-

Honorable Mention. On November 12, 2019, he tied his career-high of 27 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and reached 1,000 career points, in an 84–66 victory over

South Dakota State South Dakota State University is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually ...

. As a senior, Rakocevic averaged 10.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Professional career

On September 16, 2020, Rakocevic signed his first professional contract with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). In August 2022, he signed with the Magnolia Hotshots of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(PBA) as the team's import for the

2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup The 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup also known as the 2022–23 Honda PBA Commissioner's Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the second conference of the 2022–23 PBA season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The 20th edition of the ...

National team career

Rakocevic played for the Serbia under-20 national team at the

2017 FIBA U20 European Championship The 2017 FIBA U20 European Championship was the 20th edition of the FIBA U20 European Championship. The competition took place in three Greek cities, Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion, on the island of Crete, from 15 to 23 July 2017. Venues Partic ...

in Greece. He averaged 6.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, helping his team finish in fifth place.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 8 , , 14.9 , , .563 , , – , , .671 , , 3.7 , , .4 , , .3 , , .6 , , 5.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 22 , , 21.1 , , .627 , , – , , .548 , , 6.2 , , .5 , , .7 , , .5 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 30 , , 30.0 , , .548 , , .000 , , .679 , , 9.3 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , 1.4 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 29 , , 27.3 , , .458 , , .429 , , .634 , , 8.3 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 10.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 136 , , 89 , , 23.1 , , .540 , , .360 , , .643 , , 6.8 , , .9 , , .7 , , .9 , , 9.5

References

External links

USC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakocevic, Nick 1997 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American men's basketball players American people of Serbian descent Basketball players from Chicago Magnolia Hotshots players Philippine Basketball Association imports Power forwards Serbian expatriate basketball people in China Serbian expatriate basketball people in the Philippines Serbian men's basketball players USC Trojans men's basketball players Jilin Northeast Tigers players