Jaka Blažič (born 30 June 1990) is a Slovenian 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 for

Cedevita Olimpija Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija (), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA League and the Premier A Slovenian Bask ...

of the

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

and the

Slovenian Basketball League The Slovenian Basketball League (), abbreviated as 1. SKL and known as the Liga OTP banka due to sponsorship reasons, is the top-level professional men's basketball league in Slovenia. The league is operated by the Basketball Federation of Slove ...

. He also represents the

Slovenian national basketball team The Slovenia men's national basketball team () represents Slovenia in international basketball competitions, and is managed by the Basketball Federation of Slovenia. Since the independence of Slovenia in 1991, the national team has competed at e ...

. Standing at , he plays the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

positions.

Early life

Born in the town of

Jesenice Jesenice (, ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is the tenth-largest town in Slovenia, located in the traditional province of Upper C ...

in a family of athletes—

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

coach father Dušan Blažič and mother Ksenija who had formerly played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

—young Jaka took up basketball early. His younger sister Pia would go on to become a professional volleyball player.

Professional career

Blažič started his professional career in 2007 with Triglav Kranj. From 2009 to 2011 he played with Geoplin Slovan. In July 2011, he signed a three-year deal with Union Olimpija. On 18 June 2013 Blažič signed a three-year deal with the Serbian team

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. On 14 September 2015 he parted ways with the club. One day later, on 15 September 2015, he signed a three-year contract with the Spanish team Baskonia. On 3 July 2017 Blažič parted ways with Baskonia. On 16 July 2017 Blazič signed with MoraBanc Andorra for the 2017–18 season. On 9 August 2018 Blazič signed a one-year deal with FC Barcelona Lassa of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

and the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. On 20 July 2019 Blazič signed a two-year contract with

. On 2 June 2022 he signed with Bahçeşehir Koleji of the

Turkish Basketball 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 w ...

(BSL).

National team career

As a member of the senior men's

, Blažič competed at the

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France men's national basketball ...

and

2014 FIBA World Cup The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. The tournament was held from 30 August to 14 September 2014. Hosted by Spain, it was the la ...

. He also represented Slovenia 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 by

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

in eighth finals. He was part of the national team at the 2017 EuroBasket and

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

where Slovenia took gold and fourth place, respectively.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Union Olimpija , 10, , 1 , , 14.2 , , .350 , , .182 , , .600 , , 2.4 , , .4 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.6 , , 2.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 10 , , 9 , , 28.3 , , .373 , , .278 , , .731 , , 4.0 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .0 , , 12.4 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2,

, 10 , , 2 , , 19.7 , , .462 , , .345 , , .750 , , 3.5 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .2 , , 10.3 , , 8.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , 24 , , 10 , , 21.4 , , .422 , , .309 , , .750 , , 2.8 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .1 , , 9.1 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Baskonia , 29 , , 3 , , 19.0 , , .432 , , .352 , , .793 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .6 , , 0 , , 7.8 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , 33 , , 7 , , 13.9 , , .397 , , .387 , , .560 , , 2.1 , , .5 , , .5 , , 0 , , 4.7 , , 3.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 25 , , 7 , , 13.7 , , .465 , , .387 , , .809 , , 2.3 , , .6 , , .4 , , .1 , , 5.2 , , 5.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 141 , , 39 , , 17.6 , , .418 , , .338 , , .743 , , 2.7 , , .7 , , .5 , , .1 , , 7.0 , , 5.7

Personal life

2014 traffic accident

In the early morning hours of Saturday, 4 October 2014, Blažič caused a traffic accident while

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

, slamming his

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplate ...

into the back of a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

vehicle while changing lanes at the corner of Nemanjina and Resavska streets in central Belgrade. No injuries were reported as the traffic patrol administered a

breathalyzer A breathalyzer or breathalyser (a portmanteau of ''breath'' and ''analyzer/analyser''), also called an alcohol meter, is a device for measuring breath alcohol (drug), alcohol content (BrAC). It is commonly utilized by law enforcement officers ...

test on the twenty-four-year-old

KK Crvena zvezda Košarkaški klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда, ), usually referred to as KK Crvena zvezda or simply Crvena zvezda, currently named Crvena zvezda Meridianbet for sponsorship reasons, is a men ...

basketball player, determining his

blood alcohol level Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes. BAC is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume of blood. In US and many i ...

was above the 0.5

‰ The phrase per mille () indicates parts per thousand. The associated symbol is , similar to a per cent sign but with an extra zero in the divisor. Major dictionaries do not agree on the spelling, giving other options of per mil, per mill, pe ...

legal limit in Serbia. Several hours earlier, Friday evening 3 October 2014, Blažič had played in KK Crvena zvezda's opening game of the 2014–15 Adriatic League season versus

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

, an 85-55 blowout win in which he contributed 8 points including a spectacular dunk. Later in the day, after paying the RSD16,000 (~

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

135) fine to the misdemeanor judge, Blažič publicly apologized "to the taxi driver whose car I hit, as well as to my club and its fans" while his club Crvena zvezda fined him according to its own disciplinary code of conduct by reportedly docking the amount of two monthly salaries from his pay.

References

External links

Jaka Blažič
at eurobasket.com
Jaka Blažič
at euroleague.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blazic, Jaka 1990 births Living people 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup players ABA League players Bahçeşehir Koleji S.K. players Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics FC Barcelona Bàsquet players FIBA EuroBasket–winning players KK Cedevita Olimpija players KK Crvena zvezda players KK Olimpija players Liga ACB players Olympic basketball players for Slovenia Saski Baskonia players Shooting guards Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Serbia Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Spain Slovenian men's basketball players Small forwards Sportspeople from Jesenice, Jesenice 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players