Jaka Blažič

Jaka Blažič

Blažič in 2016 with Slovenia
No. 11 – Cedevita Olimpija
Position	Shooting guard / small forward
League	Slovenian Basketball League ABA League EuroCup
Personal information
Born	(1990-06-30) 30 June 1990 (age 34) Jesenice, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Slovenian
Listed height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Listed weight	96 kg (212 lb)
Career information
NBA draft	2012: undrafted
Playing career	2007–2023
Career history
2007–2009	Triglav
2009–2011	Slovan
2011–2013	Olimpija
2013–2015	Crvena zvezda
2015–2017	Baskonia
2017–2018	Andorra
2018–2019	Barcelona
2019–2022	Cedevita Olimpija
2022–2023	Bahçeşehir Koleji
2023–present	Cedevita Olimpija
Career highlights and awards
ABA League champion (2015) 2x ABA League Ideal Starting Five (2021, 2022) Serbian League champion (2015) 2× Slovenian League champion (2021, 2022) 4× Slovenian Cup winner (2012, 2013, 2022, 2024) 2× Serbian Cup winner (2014, 2015) Slovenian Supercup winner (2020) EuroCup Top Scorer (2021) 2× All-EuroCup Second Team (2021, 2022)
Medals Men's basketball Representing  Slovenia EuroBasket 2017 Turkey

Jaka Blažič (born 30 June 1990) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for Cedevita Olimpija of the Adriatic League and the Slovenian Basketball League. He also represents the Slovenian national basketball team. Standing at 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in), he plays the shooting guard and small forward positions.

Early life

Born in the town of Jesenice in a family of athletes—skiing coach father Dušan Blažič and mother Ksenija who had formerly played volleyball—young Jaka took up basketball early.^[1] His younger sister Pia would go on to become a professional volleyball player.

Professional career

Blažič with Crvena zvezda in December 2013.

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.^[2]

On 18 June 2013 Blažič signed a three-year deal with the Serbian team Crvena zvezda.^[3] On 14 September 2015 he parted ways with the club.^[4]

One day later, on 15 September 2015, he signed a three-year contract with the Spanish team Baskonia.^[5] On 3 July 2017 Blažič parted ways with Baskonia.^[6]

On 16 July 2017 Blazič signed with MoraBanc Andorra for the 2017–18 season.^[7] On 9 August 2018 Blazič signed a one-year deal with FC Barcelona Lassa of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.^[8]

On 20 July 2019 Blazič signed a two-year contract with Cedevita Olimpija.^[9]

On 2 June 2022 he signed with Bahçeşehir Koleji of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).^[10]

National team career

As a member of the senior men's Slovenian national basketball team, Blažič competed at the EuroBasket 2013 and 2014 FIBA World Cup. He also represented Slovenia at the EuroBasket 2015 where they were eliminated by Latvia in eighth finals.^[11][12]

He was part of the national team at the 2017 EuroBasket and 2020 Summer Olympics where Slovenia took gold and fourth place, respectively.

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	PIR	Performance Index Rating
Bold	Career high

EuroLeague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2011–12	Union Olimpija	10	1	14.2	.350	.182	.600	2.4	.4	.2	.0	3.6	2.3
2012–13		10	9	28.3	.373	.278	.731	4.0	1.9	.5	.0	12.4	10.9
2013–14	Crvena zvezda	10	2	19.7	.462	.345	.750	3.5	1.1	.9	.2	10.3	8.8
2014–15		24	10	21.4	.422	.309	.750	2.8	1.0	.5	.1	9.1	5.8
2015–16	Baskonia	29	3	19.0	.432	.352	.793	3.2	.6	.6	0	7.8	6.4
2016–17		33	7	13.9	.397	.387	.560	2.1	.5	.5	0	4.7	3.3
2018–19	Barcelona	25	7	13.7	.465	.387	.809	2.3	.6	.4	.1	5.2	5.7
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, slamming his Volkswagen Golf into the back of a taxi 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 test on the twenty-four-year-old KK Crvena zvezda basketball player, determining his blood alcohol level was above the 0.5‰ legal limit in Serbia.^[13] 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,^[13] an 85-55 blowout win in which he contributed 8 points including a spectacular dunk.^[14][15]

Later in the day, after paying the RSD16,000 (~€135) fine to the misdemeanor judge,^[16] Blažič publicly apologized "to the taxi driver whose car I hit, as well as to my club and its fans"^[13] 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.^[16]

See also

• List of KK Crvena zvezda players with 100 games played

References

1. Comino, Andreja (5 October 2017). "Ksenija in Dušan Blažič o sinu Jaki in hčerki Pii". svet24.si. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
2. "UNION OLIMPIJA invests in promising guard Blazic". Euroleague.net. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
3. "CRVENA ZVEZDA adds Blazic". Euroleague.net. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
4. "JAKA HVALA TI ZA SVE I SREĆNO!". kkcrvenazvezda.rs (in Serbian). 14 September 2015. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
5. "Jaka Blazic joins Baskonia for the next three seasons - Saski Baskonia". Saski Baskonia. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
6. "¡Gracias por todo, Jaka Blazic! - Saski Baskonia". Saski Baskonia (in European Spanish). 3 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
7. "Arriba Jaka BLAZIC". bca.ad (in Spanish). 16 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
8. "Jaka Blazic: An intense and physical presence for Barça Lassa | FC Barcelona". FC Barcelona. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
9. "Jaka Blažič is coming back to Stožice". aba-liga.com. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
10. "Jaka Blazic Bahçeşehir'de" (in Turkish). basketfaul. June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
11. "SLOVENIA MAKE LAST CUT BEFORE ZAGREB TRIP". 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
12. "STRELNIEKS STEERS LATVIA INTO LAST EIGHT". eurobasket2015.org. 12 September 2015. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
13. "Zvezda kaznila Blažiča zbog izazivanja saobraćajnog udesa: Izvinjavam se taksisti, klubu i navijačima". Večernje novosti. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
14. "Ovako je Blažič naterao navijače da mu skandiraju u "Pioniru"!". Telegraf.rs. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
15. "Zvezda demonstrirala silu na startu ABA lige, šoutajm Kalinića i Blažiča!". Telegraf.rs. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
16. Todorović, N. (4 October 2014). "Blažič se izvinio za saobraćajnu nezgodu, Zvezda ga kaznila sa dve plate". Blic. Retrieved 25 May 2019.

External links

• Jaka Blažič at eurobasket.com
• Jaka Blažič at euroleague.net
• Jaka Blažič at FIBA