Ivica Zubac’s Inspiration for joining the NBA was his Cousin Zoran Planinic
Ivica Zubac is from a small Croatian town where only 5,000 people live, and now he plays basketball on the grandest stage, in the entertainment capital of the world.
The big question for the big center is, how on Earth does that happen? How does someone who lives in the incredibly small European town of Citluk, somehow become one of the 450 players in the NBA? Zubac answered those questions in Episode 24 of the Legit Check podcast.
One would assume Zubac’s inspiration for becoming a pro basketball player would come from another European superstar like Dirk Nowitizki, but they’d assume incorrectly. The Croatian never thought he could become an NBA player until he saw another Croatian accomplish the task – his cousin, Zoran Planinić.
“What really pushed me into chasing basketball even more was my cousin making the NBA too, in 2003,” Zubac said. “That’s when he got drafted.”
Zoran was drafted by the Nets in 2003 and played three seasons in the NBA. It wasn’t just about seeing family getting drafted, it was about seeing someone come from the same place. That’s the power of seeing someone from your area accomplish their dreams.
“Seeing him coming from the same place that I grew up, made me realize ‘I can do this too. If he can do it, I can do it too,’” Zubac said. “That was my biggest motivation. Seeing him get drafted, playing in the NBA.”
Drawing inspiration isn’t enough though, the work still needs to be done. It’s not exactly easy for anyone to make it in the NBA, let alone someone from a town of 5,000. “Sometimes it looked like it wasn’t possible, but I still went through everything,” Zubac said. “It paid off.”
Zubac’s international road to the NBA involved moving away from home at a very young age to become dedicated towards his craft.
“I had to move out when I was 14 and live by myself in the capital of Croatia,” Zubac said. “That’s when it got a little serious. From there, I played on the Croatian national team.”
Bit by bit, the pieces began to align for the young Croatian. After playing on the Croatian national team, Adidas reached out to him for a sponsorship. A sponsorship deal turned into NBA scouts coming to his games. Scouts coming to games turned into a potential of getting drafted.
“They came to scout me,” Zubac said. “From there it picked up. That’s when I was on the NBA draft mock pages. It just motivated me even harder.”
For most people, the moment dreams become realized is like a domino effect. At first, the road is hard, but once things fall in place, the moments come one after another. No matter how small of a town one is from, there is always a way. Ivica Zubac is the prime example of that journey.
While some may view Zubac as the young center on a Clippers team stacked with superstars like Kawhi Leonard, others in Croatia are looking at him as a blueprint. The blueprint that they can make it in the NBA. The same blueprint that Zoran Planinić provided Zubac in 2003, is the one that Zubac is providing a new generation in 2020. Besides winning a championship, there is no greater pride than keeping a generation inspired by keeping the cycle of motivation eternal.
