Nikola Vucevic

Nikola Vucevic was born in Morges, Switzerland in 1990. At the time, his father, Borislav, was playing for a professional basketball club based in nearby Lausanne. Nikola lived in Belgium for most of his childhood. Borislav was able to play professional basketball for 24 years in Europe. Vucevic's mother, Ljiljana, also played professional basketball and competed with the Yugoslavia women's national team. In October of 2007, Vucevic moved to Simi Valley, California to play his senior year of high school at Stoneridge Prep. Vucevic speaks English, French and Serbian. The big center delivered gifts and visited with pediatric patients at Florida Hospital for Children in 2015 and 2016 and served Thanksgiving breakfast to residents at the Coalition for the Homeless in 2016. Vucevic was one of five finalists for the Magic Johnson Award in 2018-19, presented by the Pro Basketball Writers Association to the player who best combines excellence on the court with cooperation and dignity in dealing with the media and public. Vucevic is a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. Follow him on Twitter (@NikolaVucevic). Vucevic evolved into a double-digit scorer that consistently racked up double-doubles during his three years with the USC Trojans. He was limited to just 11.0 minutes per game as a freshman, but as a sophomore he was named to the 2009-10 All-Pac-10 Second Team. He was also crowned as the Pac-10 Most Improved Player that season. The Montenegrin center transcended to one of college basketball's elite players in his junior year, however, getting named to the 2010-11 All-Pac-10 First Team after leading the conference in rebounding (10.3 RPG) for the second consecutive season. Vucevic also was third in the conference in scoring (17.1 PPG) that year. Vucevic announced that he would enter the 2011 NBA Draft after his junior season at USC and was selected in the first round (16th overall) by the Philadelphia 76ers.