Damir Markota (born Damir Omerhodžić on December 26, 1985) is a Croatian professional basketball player who last played for Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian League. Standing at 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in), he plays at the power forward position.

Damir Markota
Markota with Iurbentia Bilbao in 2009
Free agent
PositionPower forward
Personal information
Born (1985-12-26) December 26, 1985 (age 38)
Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalityCroatian / Swedish
Listed height2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)
Listed weight102 kg (225 lb)
Career information
NBA draft2006: 2nd round, 59th overall pick
Selected by the San Antonio Spurs
Playing career2001–present
Career history
2001–2006Cibona
2001–2002Zabok
2002–2003→Šanac Karlovac
2006–2007Milwaukee Bucks
2007Tulsa 66ers
2007–2008Spartak St. Petersburg
2008Žalgiris Kaunas
2008Cibona
2008–2009ViveMenorca
2009–2010Bilbao Basket
2010–2012Union Olimpija
2012Zagreb
2012–2013Beşiktaş
2013Brose Baskets
2013–2014Bilbao Basket
2014–2015Cibona
2015–2017İstanbul BB
2017Uşak Sportif
2017–2018Cedevita
2018–2019Cibona
2019–2020Mornar
2020Zabok
2020–2021Cibona
2022–2023Dinamo Zagreb
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Professional career

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Markota, born in Sarajevo (then SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia), fled Bosnia during the war and settled in Sweden, where he began to practice basketball. He played together with Maciej Lampe in Stockholm, until moving to Croatia when he was fourteen, after being invited to play in the Croatian league. Markota signed with KK Cibona, but was loaned to Zabok and Karlovac Šanac until the end of 2002–03. Subsequently, he received Croatian citizenship (holding Swedish as well), declining an offer to play for the Swedish national basketball team.

Markota was an early candidate for the 2004 NBA draft, but soon withdrew his name from consideration.[1] He was later invited to the Croatian national team, and in 2005 he changed his last name from "Omerhodžić" to "Markota" (his mother's maiden name).[1]

He was eventually chosen by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the 2006 NBA draft, 59th overall, then immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. During the summer of 2006, the Bucks signed Markota to a multi-year contract after the Spurs traded his draft rights for the higher of the Bucks’ two 2007 NBA draft second-round picks.

In February 2007, the Bucks assigned Markota to Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, in order to further improve his play.[2]

On September 7, Markota was waived by the Bucks,[3] and signed with Russian team Spartak St. Petersburg on a two-year contract two days later.[4] However, in early 2008, he switched to Lithuanian club Žalgiris Kaunas.[5]

On August 14, 2008, Markota was signed by Cibona, returning to the team he represented as a youngster[6] but, after a series of unsatisfying performances upon recovering form knee injury, he was suspended for clashing with the coach.[7]

On October 28, 2008 ViveMenorca, of the Spanish ACB, announced the signing of Markota.[8][9] In January 2009, he joined Iurbentia Bilbao.[10]

On September 1, 2010, he signed a one-year deal with Union Olimpija in Slovenia.[11] In January 2012 he left Union Olimpija due to lack of payment and signed with KK Zagreb.[12]

He signed a contract with Beşiktaş in August 2012.[13] On September 27, 2013, he signed a three-month contract with Brose Baskets.[14] On November 25, 2013, he signed with his former club Bilbao Basket until the end of the season.[15]

In October 2014 Markota returns to Cibona for the third time signing a contract to last until the end of the season.[16] On January 2, 2015, he parted ways with Cibona.[17] The same day he signed with Turkish team İstanbul BB.[18]

On June 17, 2017, Markota signed with Turkish club Uşak Sportif.[19] On December 4, 2017, he parted ways with Uşak,[20] and signed with Croatian club Cedevita.[21]

In September 2018 Markota returned to Cibona for the fourth time in his career.[22]

In July 2019 Markota signed with the Montenegrin Mornar.[23]

Markota started the 2020–21 season with the Croatian side Zabok but on October 23, 2020, he signed with Cibona for the fifth time in his career.[24] After a conflict with coach Vladimir Jovanović, in April 2021, Markota left Cibona.[25]

In February 2022, Markota signed with Dinamo of the Croatian second-tier Prva muška liga.[26]

National team career

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Markota has also been a member of the senior men's Croatian national basketball team. With Croatia's senior national team, he played at the EuroBasket 2007, EuroBasket 2011, EuroBasket 2013 and the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Career statistics

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Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006–07 Milwaukee 30 0 5.7 .365 .375 .636 1.0 .2 .1 .0 1.7
Career 30 0 5.7 .365 .375 .636 1.0 .2 .1 .0 1.7
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

EuroLeague

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2001–02 Cibona 1 0 .2 .000 .000 .000 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
2003–04 Cibona 1 0 2.0 .1000 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 2.0 2.0
2004–05 Cibona 11 8 13.3 .435 .238 .500 2.0 .4 .4 .1 3.5 1.4
2005–06 Cibona 19 0 20.1 .610 .323 .615 5.1 .6 .4 .3 7.8 8.1
2007–08 Žalgiris 6 0 13.2 .462 .200 .1000 2.0 .8 .3 .5 3.5 2.0
2010–11 Union Olimpija 15 15 26.2 .508 .275 .724 4.5 1.9 .7 .1 8.5 8.8
2011–12 Union Olimpija 7 5 26.0 .769 .143 .700 6.0 1.4 .4 .1 4.7 9.1
2012–13 Beşiktaş 24 17 24.2 .510 .319 .824 5.1 1.4 .7 .2 8.7 10.2
2013–14 Brose Baskets 6 3 16.3 .500 .214 .000 2.7 1.0 .5 .0 4.2 4.3

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Profile: Damir Markota". NBA. 2006. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  2. ^ Milwaukee Bucks Assign Rookie Forward Damir Markota to Tulsa 66ers of NBA Development League
  3. ^ Bucks request waivers on Damir Markota
  4. ^ Баскетбольный клуб "Спартак" (Санкт-Петербург)[permanent dead link] (in Russian)
  5. ^ Zalgiris lands Damir Markota
  6. ^ Cibona brings back Markota
  7. ^ Bermudski trokut u Ciboni - nakon Callowaya, nestao i Markota! (in Croatian)
  8. ^ Markota joins ViveMenorca Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Croatian)
  9. ^ Markota to wear #11[permanent dead link] (in Spanish)
  10. ^ Bilbao brings in Markota.
  11. ^ Olimpija add Damir Markota
  12. ^ "Damir Markota officially joins KK Zagreb". Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  13. ^ "Damir Markota signs with Beşiktaş". Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  14. ^ "BROSE BASKETS adds Markota". Euroleague.net. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ "Damir Markota vuelve el Bilbao Basket" (in Spanish). bilbaobasket.biz. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  16. ^ "Damir Markota u Ciboni!" (in Croatian). KK Cibona. October 17, 2014.
  17. ^ "Cibona Zagreb officially part ways with Damir Markota". Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  18. ^ Istanbul BSB announces Vujacic, Jenkins and Markota
  19. ^ "Usak Sportif signs Ian Miller, Jordan Hamilton, Isaiah Miles and Damir Markota". Sportando.com. June 17, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  20. ^ Usak Sportif part ways with Damir Markota and Mutlu Demir
  21. ^ "Stiže pojačanje! Damir Markota potpisao za Cedevitu". kkcedevita.hr (in Croatian). December 4, 2017. Archived from the original on December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  22. ^ "KK Cibona signs Damir Markota". sportando.com. September 17, 2018. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  23. ^ "Damir Markota (ex Cibona) joins Mornar Bar". eurobasket.com. July 4, 2019.
  24. ^ "SLUŽBENO: Damir Markota u Ciboni!". cibona.hr (in Croatian). October 23, 2020.
  25. ^ "Damir Markota više nije Cibonin igrač. Ovako se oprostio od kluba". index.hr (in Croatian). April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  26. ^ "OGROMNO POJAČANJE / Bivši hrvatski reprezentativac potpisuje za Dinamo: 'Nisam ovo mogao odbiti, sinergija s Boysima je sjajna...'". net.hr (in Croatian). March 4, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
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