Jovanović Nikola (Serbian: Никола Јовановић; born 6 January 1994, Serbia) is a Serbian professional basketball player, a power forward. Since September 2021 he has played for BC Nizhny Novgorod (later renamed Pari Nizhny Novgorod) in the VTB United League. Height — 208 cm, weight — 107 kg, jersey number — 32.[2]

Career before coming to Nizhny Novgorod

In his youth, Jovanović played for the youth squads of Serbia's leading clubs: in 2010–2011 for Crvena Zvezda, and in 2011–2012 for Partizan. He then continued his education in the United States, enrolling at Arlington Country Day School, a private school in Jacksonville, Florida. According to the publication Florida Hoops, he ranked among the 20 most promising basketball players in the state.[2]

From 2013 to 2016 he studied at the University of Southern California (USC) and played for the USC Trojans in NCAA Division I (Pac-12 Conference). Over his college career he scored more than 1,000 points, becoming the 36th player in USC history to pass that mark.[2]

In the 2016/17 season, Jovanović played in the NBA G League: first for the Grand Rapids Drive (a farm club of the Detroit Pistons), then for the Westchester Knicks (a farm club of the New York Knicks). In summer 2017 he signed a three-year contract with Crvena Zvezda. In the 2018/19 season he played on loan for the Italian side Aquila Basket Trento in the EuroCup. He spent the shortened 2019/20 season back at Crvena Zvezda, after which he went on loan to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Igokea, a participant in the 2020/21 FIBA Champions League. With Igokea the forward reached the Top 16 stage of the Champions League, stopping one win short of the "Final Eight", and also won the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup and reached the semifinals of the Adriatic League.[2]

At BC Nizhny Novgorod

On 14 September 2021, Jovanović joined BC Nizhny Novgorod, moving from Igokea.[2] In the 2022/23 season he was part of the core rotation of Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which played in the VTB United League under head coach Zoran Lukić.[4] The club's website records his return to the team after a brief break in a later season.[3] According to RIA Novosti, in one of the VTB United League seasons Jovanović was listed on the club's roster alongside other foreign players.[1]

Sources

  1. RIA Novosti — Nizhny Novgorod basketball club (Russia). Everything about the team: roster, match results, online broadcasts, news and rumors (archive)
  2. nn-basket.ru — Nikola Jovanovic — BC "Nizhny Novgorod"
  3. nn-basket.ru — Nikola Jovanovic — BC "Nizhny Novgorod"
  4. avtodor.ru — Introducing the opponent — "Pari Nizhny Novgorod" — AVTODOR (archive)
  5. vtb-league.com — Macon and Reynolds join UNICS, Ponkrashov joins "Pari Nizhny", Tompkins joins "Zenit". The main transfers of July — VTB United League — Official website (archive)