Darko Rajaković ( sr-Cyrl, Дарко Рајаковић; born 22 February 1979) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach who is the head coach for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). Rajaković was the head coach of the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

for two seasons and the first head coach in NBA G League history born outside of North America.

Education

Rajaković earned his degree in basketball coaching from the Belgrade Basketball Academy in 2004 and earned his degree in sports management from Alfa BK University in 2006.

Coaching career

Early career

Rajaković began his coaching career at 16 years old with Borac Čačak in

Čačak Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Чачак, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley within the geographical region of Šumadija. , the city proper has 73,331 inhabitants, wh ...

, Serbia. Following his three-year stint in Čačak, Rajaković was named the head coach for the Crvena zvezda youth system in Belgrade. During his eight years in Belgrade, Rajaković led Crvena zvezda to two Serbian Youth championships. To increase his basketball coaching acumen and knowledge, Rajakovic spent time with

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head c ...

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

(2003) and

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five nati ...

at the Duke University (2007) and attended team practices and meetings at both universities. From 2004 to 2011, Rajaković served as a scouting consultant and NBA Summer League assistant coach for the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

Espacio Torrelodones (2009–2012)

In 2009, Rajaković become the head coach of Espacio Torrelodones of the Spanish EBA League ( 4th-tier). Rajaković excelled in both recruiting and developing players. In his first season, Rajaković led the Torrelodones to the Primera Division – Community of Madrid Group (5th-tier) title, promoting the team to the Liga EBA. In the 2010–11 Liga EBA season, the Torrelodones finished 7th in Group B with a 16–14 record. In the next season and his last as their coach, the Torrelodones finished 8th in Group B with the same record as for season before.

Tulsa 66ers (2012–2014)

In 2012, Rajaković became the head coach of the

of the NBA Development League. Rajaković led Tulsa to a combined 51-49 record over two seasons, including a 27-23 record and NBA D-League Semifinals appearance in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. During his time with the 66ers, Tulsa was assigned seven players from

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

a total of 50 times (the most in the league during that stretch), including Oklahoma City players such as Reggie Jackson, Perry Jones,

Jeremy Lamb Jeremy Emmanuel Lamb (born May 30, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a freshman, he was the second-leading scorer on the 2011 national cha ...

and André Roberson. Rajaković witnessed five of his Tulsa players receive call-ups to the NBA, including four to the Oklahoma City ( Grant Jerrett,

Daniel Orton Daniel Joseph Orton (born August 6, 1990) is an American professional basketball player. He is a 6-foot 10-inch, 265-pound center who played college basketball for the University of Kentucky. High school career Orton played for Bishop McGuinnes ...

Mustafa Shakur Mustafadeen "Mustafa" Abdush-Shakur (born August 18, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Arizona and has previously played professionally in Europe, Lebanon, the NBA D-Le ...

and Reggie Williams). He coached 11 Tulsa players over the two years who were on an NBA roster in the 2013–14 season.

NBA assistant (2014–2023)

On 5 July 2014, Rajaković was named assistant coach of the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

. During his time with the Thunder, Rajaković helped develop many players, including Steven Adams, Andre Roberson,

Terrance Ferguson Terrance Eugene Ferguson Jr. (born May 17, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the GTK Gliwice of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He completed high school at Advanced Preparatory International in Dallas, Texas, where he wa ...

Victor Oladipo Kehinde Babatunde Victor Oladipo (born May 4, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, where in the 2012-2013 sea ...

, Dennis Schröder, and Alex Abrines. Rajaković served as the Thunder’s head coach at NBA Summer League in 2014 and 2015. He was on the Western Conference All-Star Team coaching staff in 2014. Rajaković helped lead the Thunder to the playoffs four consecutive seasons (

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

), making it to the 2016 NBA Western Conference Finals. On 26 June 2019, Rajaković was hired as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns. On 13 September 2020, Rajaković was hired as an assistant coach for the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

. On 11 January 2022, Rajaković as the interim head coach led the Grizzlies to a 116–108 win over the Golden State Warriors. It was his head coaching debut in NBA. After his fellow Serbian countryman

Igor Kokoškov Igor Stefan Kokoškov ( sr-Cyrl, Игор Стефан Кокошков; born December 17, 1971) is a Serbian professional basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He had spen ...

, he is the second European who led an NBA team in a regular season game. Rajaković finished his stint as the interim head coach with a 4–1 record. In May 2022, Rajaković was featured in

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's annual report on potential coaching candidates to watch. The article stated:

Toronto Raptors (2023–present)

On 13 June 2023, Darko was hired by the

as the 10th head coach in franchise history.

National team coaching career

On 18 July 2019, Rajaković was hired as an assistant coach for the

Serbia men's national basketball team The Serbia men's national basketball team ( sr, Кошаркашка репрезентација Србије, Košarkaška reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in international basketball competition and is controlled by the Basketball Fe ...

under

Aleksandar Đorđević Aleksandar "Saša" Đorđević or Sale Đorđević (Anglicized: Sasha Djordjevic; sr-Cyrl, Александар Саша Ђорђевић, ; born 26 August 1967) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serve ...

. He made a debut at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup where Serbia won the fifth place.

Head coaching record

NBA Development League

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References

External links

* Coach information a
Basketball-reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajakovic, Darko 1979 births Living people KK Crvena zvezda (youth) coaches Memphis Grizzlies assistant coaches National Basketball Association scouts from Europe Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coaches Phoenix Suns assistant coaches San Antonio Spurs assistant coaches Serbian basketball scouts Serbian men's basketball coaches Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States Serbian expatriate basketball people in Spain Toronto Raptors head coaches Tulsa 66ers coaches