Luka Samanic, #19, was drafted by the Spurs with the nineteenth pick of the draft when he was nineteen-years-old. When I asked him about the choice of number 19 as his jersey in Salt Lake City after being drafted, he added “also, my birthday is 1-9.”
But before ever crossing the ocean, the young Croatian had a professional career. He won MVP honors and the Slam Dunk contest with Zagreb.
As a sixteen-year-old, he signed an amateur contract with FC Barcelona where he racked up another Slam Dunk Contest win, and in 2017, he was named MVP of the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship B.