Marko Milič (born May 7, 1977) is a Slovenian

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 ...

coach and former player who most recently served as an assistant coach for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

of the

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

(NBA). He represented the senior

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 ...

Playing career

Professional career

After being selected by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

in the

1997 NBA draft The 1997 NBA draft took place on June 25, 1997, at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Vancouver Grizzlies had the highest probability to win the NBA draft lottery, but since they were an expansion team along with the Toronto R ...

(34th pick overall), Milič's rights were traded to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. After seeing limited

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

duty (44 career games) during his two seasons with the Suns, he returned to Europe and played for

Union Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija () was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They have played in two differen ...

(where he started playing senior basketball),

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

(two stints),

Fortitudo Bologna Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Flats Service Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division. H ...

( Italian League runner-up),

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

(2004

Italian Cup Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

finalist) and

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. He also represented Fenerbahçe in the first part of the 1998–99 season, due to the NBA season's lockout, returning to Phoenix in January 1999. Milič won four Slovenian Leagues and four Slovenian Cups with Union Olimpija and led the team to its only

EuroLeague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, fo ...

appearance so far, in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. With Real Madrid he had his biggest success as a player with the

ULEB Cup EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

title of 2007 paired with a Spanish League title that same year. He also won the Kuwait League in 2014. On October 14, 2015, he announced his retirement from playing professional basketball. On October 29, 2015, Union Olimpija retired Marko Milič's #12 jersey.

National team career

With the junior national teams of Slovenia, Milič played at the 1994 FIBA Europe Under-22 Championship and the 1996 FIBA Europe Under-22 Championship. Milič played for the senior national basketball team of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, from 1995 until 2006. He played at the

EuroBasket 1995 The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...

EuroBasket 1997 The 1997 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1997, was the 30th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, giving a b ...

EuroBasket 1999 The 1999 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1999, was the 31st FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2000 Olympic Tournament, giving a berth ...

EuroBasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a ...

EuroBasket 2003 The 2003 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2003, was the 33rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as the Europe qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics, giving a berth ...

EuroBasket 2005 The 2005 FIBA European Championship, commonly known as FIBA EuroBasket 2005, was the 34th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. It also served as the European qualifier for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, awardin ...

and

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised b ...

Coaching career

In 2022, Milič was hired as an assistant coach with the

under head coach

Jason Kidd Jason Frederick Kidd (born March 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the List of current NBA head coaches, head coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regar ...

who was his teammate in the

. He stepped down as an assistant coach of the Mavericks on February 9, 2025, following the trade of

Luka Dončić Luka Dončić ( ; ; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since his rookie season, he has been selected to five NBA All-Star games and fiv ...

Personal life

Milič's father,

Vladimir Milić Vladimir Milić (; born 23 October 1955) is a retired Serbian shot putter who represented SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal Peopl ...

, a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

from

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

based in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, was a

shotput The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival (1896), and women's competition bega ...

ting champion in

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. His mother, Metka Papler, was also a successful sportswoman in Yugoslavia. His daughter is a tennis player

Ela Nala Milić Ela Nala Milić (born 28 February 2006) is a Slovenian tennis player. Career Milić made her WTA main-draw debut at the 2021 Zavarovalnica Sava Portorož, after receiving a wildcard for the doubles tournament. She and her partner Tina Cvetkovi� ...

Club career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , 8 , , 22.5 , , .519 , , .300 , , .556 , , 4.6 , , 1.9 , , 1.8 , , .0 , , 9.3 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;", Skipper Bologna , 18 , , 15 , , 21.1 , , .496 , , .267 , , .659 , , 3.6 , , 1.4 , , 1.8 , , .1 , , 9.3 , , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;",

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

, 22 , , 19 , , 26.1 , , .489 , , .250 , , .617 , , 4.6 , , 2.2 , , 1.6 , , .0 , , 10.4 , , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3",

, 11 , , 11 , , 26.5 , , .611 , , .200 , , .550 , , 6.9 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 15.1 , , 16.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , 14 , , 14 , , 30.3 , , .517 , , .125 , , .744 , , 6.4 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 15.6 , , 15.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , 6 , , 4 , , 21.3 , , .378 , , .0 , , .714 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 9.0 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;",

Entente Orléanaise Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case ...

, 3 , , 1 , , 9.1 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .667 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.7 , , 5.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 89 , , 72 , , 25.5 , , .513 , , .239 , , .628 , , 4.8 , , 1.8 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 11.0 , , 11.7

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 33 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .609 , , .500 , , .647 , , .8 , , .4 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 11 , , 0 , , 4.8 , , .400 , , .000 , , , , .5 , , .2 , , .3 , , .1 , , 1.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 44 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .560 , , .429 , , .647 , , .7 , , .3 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.5

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 2 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .667 , , , , , , .5 , , .0 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 2 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .667 , , , , , , .5 , , .0 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.0