By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Selected by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2022 NBA draft, Karlo Matkovic is set to cross the Atlantic Ocean and pursue a career in the league based in North America midway through the 2023-24 season.
On Friday, Cedevita Olimpija announced that the 22-year-old Croatian big will be heading to the NBA in February. He is likely to directly join the Pelicans, but the exact path remains unclear.
Per the press release: “Karlo Matković, a 208-centimeter-tall center, is leaving for the North American NBA League. Matković, who was one of Cedevita Olimpija’s best players in both competitions, was selected 52nd in a row in the NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans in 2022.
At the beginning of February, Karlo Matković will say goodbye to the Cedevita Olimpija team. The latter will move to the NBA League, and already in 2022, Matković was drafted as the 52nd in a row by the New Orleans Pelicans. Karlo is a child of the Cedevita basketball family, as he took his first professional steps in the 2018/19 season in the jersey of the then Zagreb Cedevita, and in April 2019 he also signed his first professional contract with the club. In September 2019, after the formation of Cedevita Olimpija, he was initially loaned to OKK Beograd, where he spent one season, and then developed in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons at Mega Belgrade.
In the 2023/24 season, Karlo has so far played in 14 BKT EuroCup matches and 15 AdmiralBet ABA League matches. He is averaging 14.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 assists per game in the European Cup, and 15.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in the regional league. In the 2022/23 competitive season, he played in 24 matches in the AdmiralBet ABA League, and in the 7DAYS EuroCup he stepped onto the floor in ten trials. He averaged 9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds on the European stage, and 8.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in the regional league.
“Already in 2022, when he was selected in the NBA League draft, we knew that the day would come when Karlo would leave us, so when he left, we all at the club have mixed feelings. joined eight years ago, and in all these seasons we have followed his development with enthusiasm, not only in Zagreb and Ljubljana, but also in Belgrade, where he spent some time as a loan player. We are proud that in the current season he has developed into a true anchor of our game who is dominant not only in the regional league but also in the European Cup and his departure is proof that hard and long-term work can go a long way.We are aware that we are losing one of the most important members of our team , but at the same time we are extremely happy for him and his family. We will miss Karlo immeasurably, and at the same time we will accompany him in the continuation of his career, and we wish him the best of luck on his further sports journey,” he said when announcing Karlo Matković’s departure from Ljubljana to the United States director of Cedevita Olimpija, Davor Užbinec.
Karlo will travel to the United States after the match of the 19th round of the regular season of the AdmiralBet ABA League against Borce Mozzart in Čaček. Until then, Zmaje still has a visit to SC Derby in Podgorica and a home match against London Lions, which will be held on Wednesday, January 31, at 6:30 p.m. in Stožice. Tickets for watching the match are available at ustsupnice.olimpija.com, and admission is free for all children under the age of 15.
Karlo Matković will also be the guest of the future Cedevita Olimpija Podcast, in which we will look back together at the course of his career so far, his basketball beginnings and his childhood, and he will also reveal many events from the background of his sports career.”
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net