Union Olimpija signed Croatian power forward Damir Markota (210cm, 1985) for the upcoming season. He played for Spanish ACB club Bilbao in last two seasons.
Before moving to Spain, he was in Lithuania, where he was part of Žalgiris Kaunas, and Russia, where he wore Spartak‘s colours. He grew up as player of Cibona Zagreb, where he also made his Euroleague debut. He also spent a season in the NBA, playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. In the last season, he averaged 4.3 points, and 3.4 rebounds per game in EuroCup, while in ACB he added 4.7 points, and 3.1 rebounds per game.
Jure Zdovc, head coach of Union Olimpija: “Markota is well known through Europe. His basketball skills have never been debatable, but we still decided to have him on try-out for few days before signing him. We just wanted to see if we are satisfied with physical preparation, and effort. Damir will have to work on his game, to become more consistant player, and he shows a lot of commitment to get better at this part of his game. I am happy we agreed on terms, and I believe he will be a big boost for our team, especially with his versatility, and experience on power forward position.”