Sava Lešić ( sr-cyr, Сава Лешић; born February 23, 1988) 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

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 ...

of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia (), commonly abbreviated as KLS, is a Serbian basketball league system, top-tier men's professional basketball Sports league, league in Serbia. Founded in 2006. It is currently not run by the Basketball Federation o ...

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 ...

Professional career

Lešić played for

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 ...

s of KK Požarevac,

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

, and Partizan. His professional career started with Vizura. He then moved to Superfund where he averaged 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists over 25 games in the 2008–09 season. In 2009, he signed a four-year deal with the Serbian

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 ...

club Partizan. In November 2010, Lešić terminated the contract with Partizan, and signed a four-year deal with

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 ...

. In August 2012, he signed with the Ukrainian team Khimik. In August 2013, he signed a one-year deal with Radnički Kragujevac. In July 2014, he signed with the Russian team Yenisey Krasnoyarsk. In August 2015, he signed with Slovenian club

Union Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija () was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They have played in two differen ...

for the 2015–16 season. With Olimpija he averaged 14.1 points in Eurocup and 15.2 points and 7.6 rebounds in

. On August 9, 2016, he signed with Italian club

Pallacanestro Reggiana Pallacanestro Reggiana, also simply known as Reggiana or Reggio Emilia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Unahotels Reggio Emilia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna. It plays in the LBA as ...

. On February 24, 2017, he parted ways with Reggiana. On April 4, 2017, he signed with

Mega Leks Košarkaški klub Mega Basket ( sr-cyr, Кошаркашки клуб Мега Баскет), currently referred to as Mega Superbet for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a founding ...

for rest of the 2016–17 season. On September 1, 2017, Lešić signed with German club

Oettinger Rockets Rockets is a German professional basketball team. It is originally based in Gotha, Germany but plays its home games in Erfurt. The Rockets is the first team of the BiG Gotha basketball club. In 2017, Rockets promoted to the Basketball Bundesliga ( ...

for the 2017–18 BBL season. On July 21, 2018, he signed for Bosnian club Igokea. On September 11, 2020, Lešić signed with Serbian club FMP. In January 2021, FMP parted ways with him. In February 2021, Lešić signed with Zob Ahan Isfahan of the Iranian Super League for the rest of the 2020–21 IBSL season. In September 2021, Lešić signed a one-year contract with

National team career

Lešić was a member of the Serbian university team that won the gold medal at the

2011 Summer Universiade The 2011 Summer Universiade ( zh, c=2011年夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no), also known as the XXVI Summer Universiade ( zh, c=, s=第二十六届夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no) and Shenzhen 2011, was hosted in Shenzhen, Gua ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China. Lešić appeared in 2 games for the Serbia team at the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification was the first World Cup for which teams had to qualify for under the new qualification system. The process determined 31 out of the 32 teams that participated at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. ...

Personal life

Lešić was born in

Knin Knin () is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka (Croatia), Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split, Croatia, Split. ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

(now

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 ...

), where he lived until 1995. Following the

Operation Storm Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory f ...

, he moved to

Požarevac Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čač ...

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

. He holds Croatian citizenship.

Strmica assault incident

On August 8, 2022, in Strmica, Lešić, his father, and brother were involved in a physical altercation with a 53-year-old Knin

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

officer and his 27-year-old son, the latter of whom got struck in the head with a hammer in process. A day later, Lešić told ''

Sportal Sportal was a company of the dotcom boom at the end of the 1990s. Founded by Rob Hersov, and backed by BSkyB and Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest among others, the company, originally called Pangolin, acquired rights to host a many official websit ...

'' that the road rage incident was sparked by the older daughter calling him and his wife "

Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

" and the younger daughter physically assaulting his wife. He also revealed that the police officer threatened to "kill them all" because "

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

] had Serbian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, killed his mother in 1995". Lešić acted in self defense after the officer's daughter began attacking his wife.

References

External links