Mario Kasun (born April 5, 1980) is a Croatian 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 (appro ...

player. He played at the center position.

Professional career

Kasun started playing basketball at a local club in

Delnice Delnice () is a town in western Croatia, the largest settlement in the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar, in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The town has a population of 3861, and total municipality population is 5135 (2021). Delnice is Gorsk ...

when he was 14, before he started playing professionally with BC Zrinjevac in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. He was part of the 1998–99 Croatian junior team and the Croatian under-21 team in 2000. After two seasons in the Zagreb club, and winning the Croatian Cup, in 2000 he moved to

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, but was subsequently suspended by the Croatian Basketball Federation for this abrupt move, and spent two seasons on the bench. Kasun played at 2002 NBA pre-draft camp in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, being one of the tallest players, and showing some center skills. During 50 minutes over three games, he totalled 20 points and had 14 rebounds and six blocked shots, converting nine of 17 shots (52.9%).NBA.com: Mario Kasun
/ref> In 2002, he was initially selected by 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 ...

's (NBA)

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

in the second round (41st overall) of the

2002 NBA draft The 2002 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2002, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting 57 amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, ...

. On June 26, he was traded by the Clippers to the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

in exchange for future considerations. Regardless of this, he then moved to Germany to play for the Deutsche Bank Skyliners, based in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. With them he won the German championship and also appeared in the

2003–04 ULEB Cup The 2003–04 ULEB Cup was the second season of the European professional club basketball system, second-tier level European professional club basketball competition, EuroCup Basketball, organized by the Euroleague Basketball Company. The EuroCup ...

Orlando Magic

In 2004, he returned to the US to play for the

. In the 2004–05 season he played in 45 games for Orlando and averaged 7.9 minutes per game. In 2005–06, he appeared in 28 games. Kasun's final NBA game was played on March 4, 2006, in a 94–110 loss to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

where he recorded 4 points in 4 minutes of playing time. Kasun averaged 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in a total of 73 games in his NBA career.

FC Barcelona

In July 2006 he returned to Europe again, signing a three-year contract with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

led by head coach

Duško Ivanović Duško Ivanović (; born September 1, 1957) is a Montenegrin professional basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. Professional playing ca ...

and general manager Zoran Savić. On 19 January 2008, during a Spanish League game away at

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

, Kasun left the floor in a near- collapsed state while complaining of chest pain and laboured breathing. He was immediately admitted to the Perpetuo Socorro Private Hospital in

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

where he underwent a series of tests and was diagnosed with

cardiac arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. Essentially, this is anything but normal sinus rhythm. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beat ...

. The following day, he was discharged and cleared to travel back to Barcelona, where he was again admitted to a hospital for more tests. Within days, he was scheduled for a surgery. Following a 9-hour surgery and several weeks of recovery, Kasun resumed his professional basketball pursuits.

Efes Pilsen

During the summer 2008 off-season, Kasun signed with Efes Pilsen. In August 2010 he returned to

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 ...

and signed a one-year contract with

KK Zagreb Košarkaški klub Zagreb (), commonly referred to as KK Zagreb or simply Zagreb, was a professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. It competed in the ABA League and the Croatian League. In the 2011–12 season, the club competed in the ...

. In August 2012 he signed a two-year contract with

Montepaschi Siena Mens Sana Basketball Siena, also known as simply Mens Sana, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Siena. It is a section of the sports club Polisportiva Mens Sana, founded in 1871. Under the name Montepaschi Siena, derived from spon ...

. In December 2012, Kasun left the team for personal reasons. In September 2013, he signed with Al Wasl Dubai for the 2013–14 season. In 2014 he had to play for

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

another two seasons before retiring, but the club president was arrested for tax evasions just as he was due to sign for the club, so he never played for them. In February 2018 he played one match for KK Samobor, a regional division club from Croatia.

Euroleague career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;",

, 8 , , 7 , , 15.9 , , .569 , , .000 , , .875 , , 4.3 , , .5 , , .4 , , .5 , , 11.9 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", FC Barcelona , 21 , , 12 , , 17.6 , , .620 , , .000 , , .661 , , 3.9 , , .7 , , .4 , , .6 , , 9.6 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , style="text-align:left;", Efes Pilsen , 1 , , 0 , , 10.3 , , .600 , , .000 , , .667 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 8.0 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;", Efes Pilsen , 16 , , 12 , , 15.8 , , .655 , , .000 , , .643 , , 5.8 , , .5 , , .4 , , .5 , , 8.0 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

, 9 , , 9 , , 25.1 , , .536 , , .000 , , .800 , , 6.6 , , .9 , , .7 , , .9 , , 12.2 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;", Montepaschi , 8 , , 4 , , 10.9 , , .500 , , .000 , , .556 , , 4.0 , , .3 , , .4 , , .6 , , 5.0 , , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 63 , , 44 , , 17.0 , , .592 , , .000 , , .700 , , 4.7 , , .6 , , .4 , , .6 , , 9.2 , , 10.1

Croatian national team

Kasun was part of the

Croatia national basketball team The Croatia men's national basketball team () represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS). The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olym ...

at EuroBasket 2005,

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 Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – ...

and

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

. After a disappointing result for Croatia in the Eurobasket 2009, Mario Kasun announced his retirement from the national team with this words: "This was my last game for the national team. Every time I gave everything on the court, but it seems that is not enough. I need the summer to rest and not be injured. Obviously I am not stable in the head anymore."

Personal life

In a March 2005 interview with ''

Inside Hoops InsideHoops.com, or Inside Hoops, is a basketball news website that was founded in 1999 by Jeff Lenchiner. The site, which updates several times a day, primarily delivers NBA basketball coverage. The site also features basic daily college basketb ...

'', Kasun referred to

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madri ...

as one of his favorite players and number one idol. In 2007, while playing professionally for

, Kasun began dating the Spanish photographer Raquel Expósito, having reportedly met her at a Barcelona

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

. The couple was engaged during summer 2008 and in early 2012 had a daughter, named Sade after the famous singer. In 2017, after more than a decade together, the two split up. Kasun is famous for his tattoos, of which he has 30, having gotten his first when he was only 15. His tattoos are mostly related with his faith and family. On his right forearm and wrist he has an angel and four letters: E, D, M and A. Those represent the first letter on the name of every member in his family: E for his sister "Eva", D for his father, "Drago" (angels, inner side of right

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii (, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join to form a single muscle bel ...

), M is meant for his own name, "Mario" and A for mother "Ankica" (right

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

). On his back he has a big tattoo of another angel, which he describes as "watching my back".Kasun's tattoos

References

External links

*
Euroleague.net profile

Eurobasket.com profile

ACB.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasun, Mario 1980 births Living people ABA League players Anadolu Efes S.K. players Centers (basketball) Croatian expatriate basketball people in Germany Croatian expatriate basketball people in Spain Croatian expatriate basketball people in the United States Croatian men's basketball players FC Barcelona Bàsquet players KK Gorica players KK Zagreb players KK Zrinjevac players Köln 99ers players Liga ACB players Los Angeles Clippers draft picks Mens Sana Basket players NBA players from Croatia Orlando Magic players Sportspeople from Vinkovci Skyliners Frankfurt players Croatian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Croatian expatriate basketball people in Italy Expatriate basketball people in the United Arab Emirates Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century Croatian sportsmen