Jusuf Nurkic

  Jusuf Nurkic

Jusuf Nurkic, or the Bosnian Beast, as they call him, began his career in Zagreb, while playing for the local team, Cedevita. He spent two years there, so after he won the FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year Award in 2014, Nurkic declared himself for the NBA Draft. He ended up being the Bulls’ 16th overall pick, but he was immediately traded to the Nuggets in that same night, and like that, his NBA career started. Jusuf spent three years in Denver and had participate in a Rising Star Challenge in the 2015 All Star Weekend. He was seen as a reliable center who can score when you need some points in the paint and can crash the boards as well. The Bosnian improved his game season by season, but despite of all that, he was later traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2017. This action was not taken too kindly by him, as he was not happy with the Nuggets’ management decision to trade him away. After he arrived in Portland, things began to take shape for both him personally and the team, because the Trail Blazers were in a desperately need for a center. While being there, he improved his game and elevated it to a double-double season in 2018-19, with 15,6 PPG and 10,4 RPG, to go along with 1,4 blocks and 1 steal per-game. He was obviously having the season of his young career, but unfortunately for him and the Trail Blazers, Nurkic suffered a gruesome injury at the end of the season, fracturing his leg in the most painful way. Following that incident, he was ruled out for the remainder of the season, but he is maybe expected to come back at some point in the 2019-20 season.