Damjan Rudež (born 17 June 1986) is a Croatian former 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 (appro ...

player. He represented the Croatian national team. Standing at , he played at both forward positions.

Professional career

Europe

From 2002 to 2004, Rudež played for the junior team of Zrinjevac and occasionally for the senior team. From 2004 to 2006, he played for the Belgian club Oostende, where he won his first championship in 2006. From 2006 to 2008, he played for

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

. In June 2008, he signed a two-year deal with Union Olimpija. In 2009, he left Olimpija and signed with Cedevita Zagreb. On 7 July 2011, he signed a one-year deal with

Cibona Zagreb Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball sports club, club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the ABA League JTD, Adriatic Basketba ...

. In August 2012, he signed a one-year deal with CAI Zaragoza of Spain. On 26 June 2013, he re-signed with Zaragoza on a two-year deal. In June 2014, he requested a buy-out from his contract with Zaragoza.

NBA

On 11 July 2014, Rudež signed a three-year deal with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. During

2014–15 NBA season The 2014–15 NBA season was the 69th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA draft took place on June 26, 2014, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Andrew Wiggins was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The ...

, Rudež led all rookies in three-point field goal percentage. On 12 July 2015, Rudež was traded to the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

in exchange for Chase Budinger. On 27 June 2016, the Timberwolves declined the $1.2 million team option on Rudež's contract for the 2016–17 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. On 8 September 2016, Rudež signed with the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

. On 7 September 2017, he re-signed with the Magic. On 13 October 2017, he was waived by the Magic.

Return to Europe

On 26 October 2017, Rudež signed a three-month contract with Spanish club

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup, and his Valencia Basket ...

. Following the expiration of his contract, on 29 January 2018, he parted ways with Valencia. On 16 July 2018, Rudež signed a one-year contract with Spanish club UCAM Murcia. Eventough he had several offers, Rudež made the choice to stay home during the 2019–2020 season to take care of his baby. He planned to return in March, April or May, but the coronavirus made a return impossible. On 27 June 2020, Rudež signed with Donar in the Netherlands. His brother

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the B ...

had signed before as head coach. He averaged 7.9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

. In November, 2021, Rudež announced his retirement from playing basketball and his intention to remain professionally in the sport.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

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National team career

On 3 August 2008, he was called into the senior

Croatian national basketball team The Croatia men's national basketball team () represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS). The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olymp ...

to compete at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, after Damir Markota withdrew from the team, due to injury. In 2009, he won the gold medal at the XVI Mediterranean Games, which were held in Pescara, Italy. He also represented Croatia at the

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

, where they were eliminated in the eighth-finals by the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Honours

Club

;Oostende * Belgian League: 2005–06 ;Union Olimpija * Slovenian Premier A: 2008–09 * Slovenian Cup: 2009 ;Cibona *

A-1 Liga The Favbet Premijer liga (, ), also known as simply Premijer liga, is the first tier level men's professional basketball league in Croatia. It began in 1991, following the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia and therefore the Yugoslav League, and is or ...

: 2011–12

International

;Croatia *

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Individual

All-Star: 2007, 2008, 2010

Personal life

His older brother

Ivan Rudež Ivan Rudež (born 22 December 1979) is a Croatian professional basketball coach, now serving as Director of Switzerland's national basketball centre (Centre National du Basketball Suisse) in Lausanne. Coaching career Rudež started as a coach at ...

is a professional basketball coach for Donar in the Netherlands.

References

External links

Damjan Rudež
at Euroleague.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudez, Damjan 1986 births Living people 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup players ABA League players AS Monaco Basket players Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Zagreb Basket Zaragoza players BC Oostende players CB Murcia players Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Croatian expatriate basketball people in France Croatian expatriate basketball people in Spain Croatian expatriate basketball people in the United States Croatian men's basketball players 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Indiana Pacers players KK Cedevita players Donar (basketball club) players Dutch Basketball League players KK Cibona players KK Olimpija players KK Split players KK Zrinjevac players Liga ACB players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Croatia Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball Minnesota Timberwolves players NBA players from Croatia Olympic basketball players for Croatia Orlando Magic players Power forwards Undrafted NBA players Valencia Basket players