Nikola Jovanović (Serbian: Никола Јовановић; born January 6, 1994, Serbia) is a Serbian professional basketball player, a power forward. Since September 2021, he has played for BC Nizhny Novgorod (later 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 the private Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Florida Hoops, he was named 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 (the affiliate of the Detroit Pistons), then for the Westchester Knicks (the affiliate of the New York Knicks). In the summer of 2017, he signed a three-year contract with Crvena Zvezda. In the 2018/19 season, he played on loan for the Italian club Aquila Basket Trento in the EuroCup. He spent the shortened 2019/20 season back with Crvena Zvezda, after which he went on loan to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the club 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 September 14, 2021, Jovanović joined the roster of BC Nizhny Novgorod, moving from Igokea.[2] In the 2022/23 season, he was part of the main rotation of Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which played in the VTB United League under head coach Zoran Lukić. In the 2022/23 VTB United League season, Jovanović played 13 games for Pari Nizhny Novgorod, averaging 4.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game in about 9 minutes of playing time. Jovanović's best individual game of the 2022/23 season came against Astana (October 23, 2022), in which he scored 18 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in 15 minutes.[6][6][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. slamdunk.ru — In the 2022/23 VTB United League season, Jovanović played 13 games for Pari Nizhny Novgorod, averaging 4.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game with an average
  1. RIA Novosti — Nizhny Novgorod basketball club (Russia). Everything about the team: roster, match results, live broadcasts, news, and rumors (archive)
  2. nn-basket.ru — Nikola Jovanović — BC "Nizhny Novgorod"
  3. nn-basket.ru — Nikola Jovanović — BC "Nizhny Novgorod"
  4. avtodor.ru — Introducing the opponent — Pari Nizhny Novgorod — AVTODOR (archive)
  5. vtb-league.com — Macon and Reynolds go to UNICS, Ponkrashov to Pari Nizhny, Tompkins to Zenit. The main transfers of July — VTB United League — Official website (archive)