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 (appro ...

player who last worked as the team manager for Mega Basket of the

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer o ...

(KLS) and 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 ...

. He also represented the senior Serbian national basketball team internationally.

Professional career

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

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. 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 ...

from 1998 to 2001 before signing with

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...

in 2001.

Partizan

Veličković made his professional debut with Partizan during the 2004–05 season. He made his

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 ...

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 Virtus Roma 1960, commonly known as Virtus Roma, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. The club, named Pallacanestro Virtus Roma competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for decades until 2020, whe ...

, 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 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 ...

team in an

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

. In February 2009, he won the

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

in an 80–65 win over

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

and he was the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the competition. On 31 March 2009, Veličković scored a career-high 26 points against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. On 18 April 2009, he helped his team with 17 points and 8 rebounds in a 63–49 win over Cibona 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 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 (), 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 ...

'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 Bamberg Baskets is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia/North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup six times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

. 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 professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

. 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 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 examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

2017–18 Radivoj Korać Cup The 2018 Triglav osiguranje Radivoj Korać Cup was the 16th season of the Radivoj Korać Cup, Serbian men's national basketball cup tournament. The Žućko's left trophy awarded to the winner KK Partizan, Partizan NIS from Belgrade. Venue Quali ...

, 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

. 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 with a t ...

, he averaged 12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. On 10 August 2018, Veličković signed a 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 ABA League, 2011–12 s ...

, 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 The Radivoj Korać Cup ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Куп Радивоја Кораћа, Kup Radivoja Koraća) is the men's national basketball cup of Serbia. It is run by the Basketball Federation of Serbia and is named after Serbian basketball legend and ...

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 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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. Veličković's last game was 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 ...

's first after his return to the club since 1993.

National team career

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

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

and

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

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 Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – ...

, in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and he also won the silver medal at the

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 ...

, in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. 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 List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 Septem ...

, where Serbia was defeated 99-88 by

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

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 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 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;",

, 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.

31/03/09 *Rebounds: 13 vs.

24/01/08 *Assists: 7 vs.

Panionios Forthnet Panionios B.C. ( Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE), known in European competitions as Panionios Athens is the Greek professional basketball club that is based in Nea Smyrni, and that plays its home games in Glyfada, Greece. The club is also wide ...

07/01/09 *Steals: 4 vs. Unicaja Málaga 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 Bamberg Baskets players KK Mega Basket players KK Partizan players Liga ACB players Power forwards 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 Serbia and Montenegro men's basketball players