Novica Veličković ( sr-cyr, Новица Величковић; born 5 October 1986) is a Serbian 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 (appr ...

player who is the team manager for Mega Basket of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia ( sr, Кошаркашка лига Србије, Košarkaška liga Srbije; abbr. КЛС or KLS), is a top-tier men's professional basketball league in Serbia. Founded in 2006, it is run by the Basketball Federatio ...

and the ABA League. He also represented the senior

Serbian national basketball team Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

internationally.

Professional career

Veličković started playing basketball for KK Drvomarket in 1996. Then he played for

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

from 1998 to 2001 before signing with

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, English: Partizan Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is ...

in 2001.

Partizan

Veličković made his professional debut with Partizan during the 2004–05 season. He made his EuroLeague debut on 3 November 2005 against Pau-Orthez, scoring 2 points. In the 2007–08 season, Veličković had a bigger role in the team. On 16 January 2008 in an 88–87 loss to

Lottomatica Roma Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, commonly known as Virtus Roma, was an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. It competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for the last time in the 2020–21 season. It was form ...

, he scored 22 points and 9 rebounds, his best game in new season. He led the team with 11 points and 4 rebounds to the EuroLeague Quarterfinals in an 82–73 win over Panathinaikos on 19 March 2008. Over the season, in 22 EuroLeague games, Veličković averaged 10.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. As of 2018, Veličković was the only player to not be drafted by any NBA team in an NBA Draft. In February 2009, he won the

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

in an 80–65 win over Crvena zvezda and he was the MVP of the competition. On 31 March 2009, Veličković scored a career-high 26 points against CSKA Moscow. On 18 April 2009, he helped his team with 17 points and 8 rebounds in a 63–49 win over

Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and compete ...

to win the 2008–09 ABA League trophy. For his performances, he was named the

Adriatic League Final Four MVP The ABA League Finals MVP award, also known as the Adriatic League Finals MVP award (formerly the Final Four MVP), is an annual award that is given to the most valuable player of the finals of the European regional Adriatic ABA League, which is th ...

. In April 2009, he won the

EuroLeague Rising Star The EuroLeague Rising Star in an annual award of the EuroLeague, which is the top-tier level European-wide professional club basketball league, that is given to the player the EuroLeague deems its "top rising star". The award began in the 2004 ...

award for the 2008–09 season. Partizan finished the season by winning 8th consecutive Serbian League title, after once again defeating their archrivals, Crvena zvezda, 3–2 in the league's finals series. Veličković was named the Serbian Super League MVP and MVP of the Finals.

Real Madrid

Veličković was seen as the first target of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

's new coach

Ettore Messina Ettore Messina (born 30 September 1959) is an Italian professional basketball coach who is the head coach of Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He has won four EuroLeague championships as a head coach. Messina is regarded a ...

. His transfer, with the signing of a two-year contract with an option for a third one, was made official on 23 June 2009. In June 2012, Real Madrid decided to release Veličković due to the numerous injuries.

2013–2016

On 31 January 2013, he signed a short-term contract with the Serbian team Mega Vizura. In the game against Radnički Kragujevac on 12 May, he recorded season-best 37 points while shooting 11 from 16 from the field and grabbed 8 rebounds. On 5 August 2013, Veličković signed a contract for the upcoming season with the German team Brose Baskets. He was released on 20 February 2014. Four days later, he returned to Mega Vizura for the remainder of the season. On 21 June 2014, he signed a one-year contract with the Turkish team

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. On 24 May 2015, he extended his contract with Trabzonspor for one more season.

Return to Partizan

On 1 March 2016, Veličković left Trabzonspor and signed with his former club Partizan for the rest of the season. On 7 May, Veličković made his re-debut for Partizan against

Borac Čačak Borac may refer to: * FK Borac Banja Luka, a football club from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina ** RK Borac Banja Luka, an affiliated team handball club ** OK Borac, an affiliated volleyball club * FK Borac Čačak, a football club from Čač ...

and recorded 9 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. On 14 September 2016, Veličković re-signed with Partizan for the 2016–17 season, and he became the new team captain. In March 2017, he was selected for the ideal team of the 2016–17 ABA League season, after averaging 11.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists over 26 games. On 18 September 2017, he re-signed with Partizan for the 2017–18 season. On 18 February 2018, in

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of 2017–18 Radivoj Korać Cup, Veličković played his 400th match for the club. He helped the club to win their first trophy in almost four years, with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist in an 81–75 win over Crvena zvezda. In 21 games of the

2017–18 ABA League First Division The 2017–18 ABA League First Division was the 17th season of the ABA League with 12 teams from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Macedonia participating in it. It was the inaugural season as t ...

, he averaged 12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. On 10 August 2018, Veličković signed one-year contract extension with Partizan. In 2018–19 season, after struggling with conditioning and game shape in the beginning of the season, he regained trust of head coach Andrea Trinchieri and saw increased minutes until the end of the season. In the

2018–19 ABA League First Division The 2018–19 ABA League First Division is the 18th season of the ABA League with 12 teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia participating in it. It is the first time since the 2011–12 season that there ar ...

, he averaged 4.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists over 11.8 minutes played per games. Partizan defended the Radivoj Korać Cup trophy, but failed to win championships in ABA League and Serbian League. On 18 January 2020, Veličković broke the club record with 472 games played for the club, surpassing Petar Božić at the all-time list. He won the

2019–20 Radivoj Korać Cup The 2020 Triglav osiguranje Radivoj Korać Cup was the 18th season of the Serbian men's national basketball cup tournament. The tournament was held in Niš between 13–16 February 2020. Partizan NIS successfully defended their title, winning t ...

with Partizan in February 2020. Over 18 ABA League games, he averaged 6.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. In EuroCup, he appeared in 8 games and averaged 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds before the season was cancelled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On 1 September 2020, he re-signed with Partizan. In the 2020–21 season, which would be his last season as professional player, Veličković averaged 4.6 points and 2.6 rebounds over 17 ABA League games, while shooting 42.9% from the field goal. In Eurocup, he appeared in 5 games and averaged 5.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. On 8 July 2021, he announced his retirement from his basketball career at age 34. During his career, he made a record 509 appearances for Partizan.

National team career

Veličković was a member of the U20 Serbian national teams in 2005 and 2006 in Chekhov and

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

respectively. He made his debut with the senior Serbian national team at the

EuroBasket 2007 The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

, in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, and he also won the silver medal at the EuroBasket 2009, in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He was also a member of the Serbian national team at the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

, where Serbia was defeated 99-88 by

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in the game for the bronze medal.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=4, Partizan , 12 , , 0 , , 3.4 , , .714 , , .500 , , .333 , , .5 , , .0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , -0.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , 20 , , 1 , , 7.0 , , .500 , , .500 , , .520 , , 1.8 , , .3 , , .5 , , .1 , , 2.8 , , 3.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , 22 , , 21 , , 28.2 , , .446 , , .299 , , .750 , , 6.9 , , 1.6 , , .8 , , .3 , , 10.6 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , 19 , , 15 , , 26.1 , , .428 , , .324 , , .750 , , 5.1 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .4 , , 11.5 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=3,

, 16 , , 8 , , 22.6 , , .500 , , .417 , , .576 , , 4.1 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .3 , , 7.9 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010–11 , 19 , , 2 , , 12.1 , , .416 , , .333 , , .462 , , 2.8 , , .5 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.4 , , 3.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , 7 , , 1 , , 11.5 , , .414 , , .300 , , .250 , , 1.9 , , 1.6 , , .7 , , .1 , , 4.1 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", Brose Baskets , 5 , , 4 , , 20.0 , , .357 , , .083 , , .833 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .0 , , 7.2 , , 4.8 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 120 , , 52 , , 17.2 , , .446 , , .310 , , .632 , , 3.7 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .2 , , 6.4 , , 6.6

Career highs

*Points: 26 vs. CSKA Moscow 31/03/09 *Rebounds: 13 vs. Brose Baskets 24/01/08 *Assists: 7 vs. Panionios Forthnet 07/01/09 *Steals: 4 vs.

Unicaja Málaga Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after the n ...

11/02/09 *Blocks: 2 vs.

09/12/10

Post-playing career

On 28 July 2022, Mega Basket hired Veličković as their new team manager.

References

External links

Novica Veličković
at aba-liga.com
Novica Veličković
at euroleague.net

at fiba.com
Novica Veličković
at tblstat.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velickovic, Novica 1986 births Living people ABA League players Basketball League of Serbia players Brose Bamberg players KK Mega Basket players KK Partizan players Liga ACB players Power forwards (basketball) Real Madrid Baloncesto players Serbian basketball executives and administrators Serbia men's national basketball team players Serbian expatriate basketball people in Germany Serbian expatriate basketball people in Spain Serbian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Serbian men's basketball players Basketball players from Belgrade Trabzonspor B.K. players 2010 FIBA World Championship players