Alen Smailagić ( sr-Cyrl, Ален Смаилагић; born 18 August 2000) is a Serbian 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

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 ...

of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

(LBA) 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 ...

. Smailagić was the youngest player in history to play in the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

Early career

Smailagić was born 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 ...

, FR Yugoslavia (present-day

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

). Smailagić started to play basketball with his hometown club

Beko Beko ( ; stylized as beko) is a Turkish white goods and electronics brand of Arçelik A.Ş., which is controlled by the Koç Holding conglomerate. History Beko Elektronik A.Ş. was founded by Vehbi Koç, the founder of Koç Holding (who al ...

. In 2012, he joined their

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

. In the 2017–18 season, Smailagić played for Beko in the Junior Serbian League and averaged 21.7 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game over 19 games. He was named the Junior Serbian League MVP.

Professional career

Beko (2017–2018)

Smailagić made his senior debut for

of the semi-professional 3rd-tier Serbian Regional League in the 2017–18 season. Over ten league games, he averaged 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

Santa Cruz Warriors (2018–2019)

On 20 October 2018, Smailagić was selected as the 4th pick on the 2018 NBA G League draft by the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the NBA G League. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first ...

, but he was traded right away to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

-affiliated

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

, which makes him the youngest player in the history of the

. Smailagić made his debut for the Warriors on 3 November 2018, scoring 3 points in 7 minutes he spent on the court. Over 47 league games, he averaged 9.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

Golden State Warriors (2019–2021)

Smailagić was drafted as the 39th pick of the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible p ...

by the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

. He is the third international player drafted into the NBA from the NBA G League, joining Greek forward

Thanasis Antetokounmpo Athanasios Rotimi "Thanasis" Antetokounmpo (born Adetokunbo; July 18, 1992) is a Nigerian-Greek professional basketball player who last played for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At the international stage, he ...

and Nigerian center Chukwudiebere Maduabum, and the seventh overall to play in the NBA's official minor league before being drafted by an NBA team. Smailagić was then traded to the

in exchange for the draft rights to two future second-round picks along with cash considerations. Smailagić officially signed a multi-year contract with the Warriors on 11 July 2019. Smailagić made his regular-season debut on 27 December 2019, recording 4 points and a rebound in a 105–96 win over 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 ...

. On 4 August 2021, the Warriors waived Smailagić. He appeared in 29 games (one start) over two seasons with Golden State, averaging 3.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per game.

Partizan (2021–2024)

On August 6, 2021, Smailagić officially signed a three-year deal with his hometown club Partizan, under head coach

Željko Obradović Željko Obradović ( sr-cyrl, Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, ; born 9 March 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball Coach (basketball), coach and former professional player who is the head coach for KK Partizan, Partizan of the ...

. During the 2022–23 season, Smailagić for the first time played in

where Partizan was eliminated from the

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 ...

in tight

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

series. Over the season, Smailagić averaged 5.4 points and 2 rebounds per game. Partizan ended the 2022–23 season by lifting the

ABA 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 Macedoni ...

championship trophy, after 3–2 score against Crvena zvezda in the Finals series. Over 2023–24 season, Smailagić averaged 5.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 31 EuroLeague games. The season was deemed to be unsuccessful for Partizan as they finished the season without lifting any trophy.

Žalgiris (2024–2025)

On 28 June 2024, Smailagić signed a two-year (1+1) contract with Žalgiris Kaunas of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

(LKL) and the

Virtus Bologna (2025–present)

On 9 July 2025, Smailagić signed a two-year contract with

of the Italian

(LBA) and the EuroLeague.

National team career

Smailagić was a member of the Serbian under-16 national team that competed at the 2016 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

, Poland. Over seven tournament games, he averaged 5.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 14 , , 0 , , 9.9 , , .500 , , .231 , , .842 , , 1.9 , , .9 , , .2 , , .3 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 15 , , 1 , , 5.6 , , .407 , , .400 , , .333 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .2 , , .3 , , 1.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 29 , , 1 , , 7.7 , , .463 , , .304 , , .720 , , 1.5 , , .6 , , .2 , , .3 , , 3.0

EuroLeague

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

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Partizan , 30 , , 13 , , 10.7 , , .555 , , .465 , , .629 , , 2.0 , , .4 , , .5 , , .4 , , 5.4 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , 31 , , 11 , , 15.9 , , .598 , , .462 , , .737 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , .6 , , .4 , , 5.5 , , 6.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 61 , , 24 , , 13.3 , , .577 , , .464 , , .684 , , 2.1 , , .5 , , .6 , , .4 , , 5.5 , , 5.7

EuroCup

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , 15 , , 8 , , 22.5 , , .440 , , .314 , , .744 , , 4.9 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 7.8 , , 10.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 15 , , 8 , , 22.5 , , .440 , , .314 , , .744 , , 4.9 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 7.8 , , 10.2

Domestic leagues

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align:right;" ! Year ! Team ! League ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , , style="text-align:left;",

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

G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

, , 47 , , 17.4 , , .495 , , .244 , , .659 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , .9 , , .9 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , , style="text-align:left;",

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

, , 19 , , 25.9 , , .512 , , .341 , , .585 , , 6.2 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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

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

, , 10 , , 17.0 , , .517 , , .150 , , .667 , , 4.4 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .8 , , 7.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , , style="text-align:center;",

ABA ABA may refer to: Aviation * AB Aerotransport, former Scandinavian airline * IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport in Republic of Khakassia, Russia Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, Uni ...

, , 30 , , 19.2 , , .558 , , .295 , , .774 , , 4.3 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .5 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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

, , 29 , , 16.5 , , .626 , , .460 , , .697 , , 3.3 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , , style="text-align:center;", KLS , , 4 , , 14.4 , , .500 , , .667 , , .750 , , 1.2 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , , style="text-align:center;",

, , 31 , , 16.6 , , .512 , , .304 , , .705 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .3 , , 5.5

Personal life

Smailagić's father comes from Dubovo, while his mother comes from Lipica, with both places being located in

Tutin Tutin may refer to: Places *Tutin, Serbia, town in Serbia Surname * Arthur Tutin (1907–1961), English footballer *Dorothy Tutin (1930–2001), English actress *Mary Tutin, maiden name of Mary Gillick (1881–1965), English sculptor *Tom Tutin ...

, in southwestern Serbia.

Early career

Professional career

Beko (2017–2018)

Santa Cruz Warriors (2018–2019)

Golden State Warriors (2019–2021)

Partizan (2021–2024)

Žalgiris (2024–2025)

Virtus Bologna (2025–present)

National team career

Career statistics

NBA

EuroLeague

EuroCup

Domestic leagues

Personal life

See also

References

External links