Efes Pilsen has turned to one of the best players in Europe over the past decade to fill the team’s void at center by signing Nikola Vujcic for the season. Vujcic (211, 32) was named to the Euroleague’s All-Decade team last season after reaching six Final Fours and winning two Euroleague titles during that span.
The signing comes to help fill the void left by an injury to promising center Miroslav Raduljica, who is sidelined with a leg injury. Vujcic arrives from boyhood club KK Split, which he joined last month to help stay fit. He spent the past two seasons with Olympiacos Piraeus, with whom he played in the Euroleague final last season. Before that he was a star for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 2002 and 2008.
With Maccabi he won the Euroleague in 2004 and 2005 and also became the first – and to date only – Euroleague player to register a triple-double, a feat he accomplished twice. Vujcic was a three-time All-Euroleague First Team selection and a two-time All-Euroleague Second Team choice. He was on the either the All-Euroleague First or Second Team for five straight seasons between 2003 and 2007. The veteran center, considered the premier passing big man in the game, is the Euroleague’s career leader in index rating.
He also ranks among the career top 10 in scoring (third with 2,347 points), rebounds (second, 990), assists (sixth, 493), blocks (fourth, 119) and games played (ninth, 177). Among his other career accomplishments, Vujcic won the French League title in 2002 with Asvel Basket, the Israeli League five times with Maccabi and has also lifted the Croatian Cup, Israeli Cup and Greek Cup. He represented the Croatian national team for many years and took part in the EuroBasket championships five times.
