Jaka Lakovič (born 9 July 1978) 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 ...

coach and former player. He currently serves as a head coach for Gran Canaria 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 ...

, as well as an assistant coach of the senior Slovenia national team. Standing at , and weighing 95 kg (210 lbs.), he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position. He was an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and he helped lead the senior Slovenia national team to the fourth place finish at 2009 EuroBasket.

Professional career

In his pro club career, Lakovič played with the following clubs: Geoplin Slovan and Krka of the Slovenian Premier A League, Panathinaikos Athens of the Greek Basket League,

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 ...

of the Spanish ACB League, Galatasaray Istanbul of the

Turkish 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 ...

, and Avellino of the Italian A League. His brilliant performances during the 2004–05 EuroLeague season, while wearing the Panathinaikos Athens jersey, earned him an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection, as he helped his team reach the 2005 EuroLeague Final Four. In 2005, he was also named the MVP of the Greek Cup, and the MVP of the Greek League Finals. He won the EuroLeague championship in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, while a member of Barcelona. In July 2011, he signed a two-year contract with the Turkish Super League club Galatasaray Istanbul. In January 2013, he signed with the Italian A League club Sidigas Avellino, until the end of the season. In September 2013, he extended his contract with Avellino, for one more season. In December 2014, he signed with the Turkish Super League club Royal Halı Gaziantep, for the 2014–15 season. In September 2015, he signed with Barcelona Lassa's reserve team. At that time, he also announced that would be his last year as a professional basketball player, before he would begin to start coaching in the youth teams of Barcelona. On 27 July 2016, Lakovič announced his retirement from playing professional club basketball.

National team career

Lakovič competed for the senior Slovenian men's national team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and also at 7 straight FIBA EuroBaskets;

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, 2003,

, 2007,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Coaching career

Lakovič began his basketball coaching career in 2016, when he became an assistant coach for the senior Slovenian men's national team, working under the team's

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, at that time, Igor Kokoškov. He started coaching at the EuroBasket 2017 qualification tournament. On 7 August 2017, Lakovič signed with the Spanish ACB League club

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, as an assistant coach. On 30 April 2018, following the departure of

Veljko Mršić Veljko Mršić (; born 13 April 1971) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of the KK Split, Split of the Croatian Premijer liga (Croatian basketball), Premijer liga and the ABA League. P ...

, he took over the club's head coach position. In June 2019, he was announced as the new head coach of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club ratiopharm Ulm. On 17 June 2022, Lakovič signed to be the head coach of Gran Canaria, of Spain's

. With Gran Canaria, he won the European-wide secondary level EuroCup championship, in the 2022–23 season.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;", Krka , 14 , , 13 , , 32.5 , , .491 , , .436 , , .890 , , 2.1 , , 3.8 , , 2.0 , , , , 20.9 , , 22.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4", Panathinaikos , 19 , , 6 , , 23.7 , , .504 , , .500 , , .891 , , 1.8 , , 2.6 , , .5 , , , , 9.4 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , 20 , , 15 , , 29.2 , , .448 , , .358 , , .846 , , 2.1 , , 2.4 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 13.3 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , 25 , , 19 , , 31.5 , , .445 , , .353 , , .839 , , 2.1 , , 2.8 , , 1.4 , , , , 15.1 , , 15.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , 22 , , 21 , , 31.0 , , .400 , , .370 , , .838 , , 1.4 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 14.4 , , 13.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

, 23 , , 19 , , 24.7 , , .429 , , .398 , , .768 , , 1.7 , , 3.5 , , .9 , , .0 , , 10.3 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , 23 , , 20 , , 25.4 , , .388 , , .358 , , .807 , , 2.2 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , , , 12.2 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , 18 , , 11 , , 22.6 , , .435 , , .413 , , .881 , , 1.3 , , 2.9 , , .8 , , , , 9.9 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2009–10† , 19 , , 0 , , 13.5 , , .416 , , .439 , , .879 , , .8 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , , , 6.2 , , 5.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010–11 , 19 , , 3 , , 24.7 , , .426 , , .365 , , .643 , , .5 , , 1.9 , , .2 , , .1 , , 6.4 , , 5.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", Galatasaray , 16 , , 8 , , 26.2 , , .396 , , .361 , , .818 , , 1.9 , , 2.7 , , .3 , , .1 , , 9.7 , , 10.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 218 , , 135 , , 25.2 , , .433 , , .386 , , .836 , , 1.6 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .0 , , 11.6 , , 11.8

Career awards and achievements

Playing career

Panathinaikos Athens

*4× Greek League Champion: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 *3× Greek Cup Winner: 2003, 2005, 2006

Barcelona

*2× Spanish League Champion:

*3× Spanish Cup Winner: 2007,

*2× Spanish Super Cup Winner:

* EuroLeague Champion:

Galatasaray Istanbul

* Turkish Super Cup Winner: 2011

Slovenia junior national team

* 1998 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship:

Individual

* Slovenian League All-Star: 2001 * Led the EuroLeague in

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

shooting percentage (89.0%): 2002 * Led the Slovenian League in assists: 2002 * 3× Greek League All-Star: 2003, 2005, 2006 * 2× Greek League Finals MVP: 2003, 2005 * Led the Greek League in free throw shooting percentage (91.0%): 2004 * All-Greek League Second Team: 2004 * All-Greek League Best Five: 2005 * Greek Cup MVP: 2005 * All-EuroLeague 2nd Team:

Coaching career

* EuroCup Champion: ( 2023)

Professional career

National team career

Coaching career

Career statistics

EuroLeague

Career awards and achievements

Playing career

Panathinaikos Athens

Barcelona

Galatasaray Istanbul

Slovenia junior national team

Individual

Coaching career

References

External links