Ante Toni Žižić (; born 4 January 1997) is a Croatian professional

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player for Virtus Bologna of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

(LBA) and the EuroLeague. He was selected 23rd overall by the

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in the 2016 NBA draft.

Professional career

Kaštela (2013–2014)

Žižić's first team was

KK Split Košarkaški klub Split (), commonly referred to as KK Split or simply Split, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, Croatia. The club competes in the ABA League and the HT Premijer liga, Croatian Leag ...

, 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 Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

. 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 Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. 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

. 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 The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

alongside Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

' 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

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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 The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

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

Žižić's older brother, Andrija, is a former professional

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,

, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, and he also won a EuroLeague championship with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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, 32 , , 2 , , 6.7 , , .731 , , – , , .724 , , 1.9 , , .2 , , .1 , , .4 , , 3.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 59 , , 25 , , 18.3 , , .553 , , – , , .705 , , 5.4 , , .9 , , .2 , , .4 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .569 , , – , , .737 , , 3.0 , , .3 , , .3 , , .2 , , 4.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 113 , , 27 , , 13.4 , , .581 , , – , , .711 , , 3.9 , , .6 , , .2 , , .4 , , 6.0

Playoffs

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, 8 , , 0 , , 2.9 , , .500 , , - , , .500 , , .8 , , .1 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 8 , , 0 , , 2.9 , , .500 , , - , , .500 , , .8 , , .1 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.6

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", Darüşşafaka , 20 , , 17 , , 21.9 , , .649 , , , , .643 , , 6.7 , , .4 , , .2 , , .8 , , 9.0 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Maccabi , 34 , , 30 , , 19.9 , , .589 , , , , .771 , , 5.4 , , .7 , , .4 , , .8 , , 9.1 , , 11.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , 31 , , 28 , , 21.1 , , .667 , , , , .730 , , 5.0 , , .6 , , .5 , , .8 , , 12.2 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;", Anadolu Efes , 31 , , 13 , , 15.7 , , .703 , , , , .655 , , 3.7 , , .7 , , .4 , , .3 , , 7.7 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Anadolu Efes , 13 , , 7 , , 15.8 , , .714 , , , , .700 , , 2.8 , , .7 , , .5 , , .2 , , 6.5 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, 17 , , 3 , , 13.0 , , .574 , , , , .400 , , 2.6 , , .5 , , .1 , , .6 , , 3.5 , , 4.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 146 , , 98 , , 18.4 , , .646 , , , , .686 , , 4.6 , , .6 , , .4 , , .6 , , 8.6 , , 11.2

References

External links

*
Ante Žižić
at aba-liga.com
Ante Žižić
at euroleague.net *
Ante Žižić
at

FIBA Europe FIBA Europe is the administrative body for basketball in Europe, within the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which includes all List of men's national basketball teams#FIBA Europe, 50 national European basketball federations. ...

Ante Žižić
at draftexpress.com *
Ante Žižić
at tblstat.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Zizic, Ante 1997 births Living people ABA League players Anadolu Efes S.K. players Basketball players from Split, Croatia Boston Celtics draft picks Canton Charge players Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers players Croatian expatriate basketball people in Israel Croatian expatriate basketball people in Italy Croatian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Croatian expatriate basketball people in the United States Croatian men's basketball players Darüşşafaka Basketbol players KK Cibona players KK Gorica players KK Kaštela players KK Split players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players NBA players from Croatia Virtus Bologna players 21st-century Croatian sportsmen