By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Cedevita Olimpija announced the addition of Slovenian point guard Aleksej Nikolic on Wednesday.
“I am looking forward to returning to Slovenia after more than a decade of playing abroad, and at the same time, I will be playing for the Slovenian club at senior level for the first time,” he mentioned, per the press release issued by the team based in Ljubljana.
Nikolic, 29, resurfaces in the BKT EuroCup, following 27 games between Germani Brescia in 2022-23 and Partizan NIS in 2018-19. Additional experience in European club competitions include 51 appearances in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague as a member of Brose Bamberg and nine appearances in the Basketball Champions League, spread from Hereda San Pablo Burgos to Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari. Playing for Elan Chalon last season, he averaged 12.8 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per contest in France’s Betclic Elite.
A regular with the senior national team of Slovenia over the better part of the last decade, his international tally is highlighted by contributing 3.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per game to winning gold medals in the 2017 FIBA EuroBasket. He also made his way to the 2014 and 2023 installments of the FIBA World Cup, plus the 2022 EuroBasket.
“Aleksej Nikolic is a player I have known for quite some time. He is a local player, a member of the Slovenian national team, a great guy, which is the most important thing,” noted Zvezdan Mitrovic, the new head coach of Cedevita Olimpija.