Olimpia Milano officially signs Nikola Mirotic. Armani: He will feel like at home with us

Olimpia Milan has reached an agreement until 2026 with Nikola Mirotic, born on February 11, 1991, in Podgorica, Montenegro, of Spanish basketball citizenship, a 2.08 mt tall power forward, coming from Barcelona. "I am very happy to become part of this great family of Olimpia Milano and to contribute to the competitiveness of this great team and organization. I will give my best effort to return the confidence that Mr. Armani and Mr. Dell’Orco have put in me. I am also happy to play again for Coach Messina, who I met when I was a young player. I am sure that we will all enjoy this season and we will make our fans proud," Mirotic said.

GIORGIO ARMANI -"When the possibility of bringing Nikola Mirotic to Milan came up, I and Leo Dell’Orco decided to do averything possible, within our confines and principles, to make this opportunity come true. Mirotic is a champion of proven skills and a special person. We managed to conquer him because of the credibility we built over the years with the enormous work we put up all together on and off the court. To bring him to Olimpia is a gift that our fans will be able to appreciate and an opportunity for the entire team. At the same time, we anticipate that Mirotic will feel like at home with us and, just like other champions before him, he will be more than happy about choosing Milan," Mr Giorgio Armani said.

HIS CAREER – Nikola Mirotic started to play basketball in Podgorica at the Joker School founded by former international player Jadran Vujacic, but at the age of 14 he transferred to play for Real Madrid. Basically, raised in the Real Madrid academy, he made his debut with the first team in 2008. He remained at Real Madrid until 2014. In the meanwhile, he was nominated EuroLeague’s Rising Star in 2011 and 2012. In 2013 and 2014 he was included in the All-EuroLeague second team. With Real Madrid he won the Spanish title in 2013, the King’s Cup in 2012 and 2014 and the Spanish Supercup in 2012 and 2013. He was MVP of the Spanish league in 2013 and of the King’s Cup in 2014.

Selected in the 2011 NBA draft in the first round (number 23) by Houston, he was then acquired by the Chicago Bulls with whom he made his debut in the 2014/15 season. He stayed with the Bulls until 2018 when he was acquired by the New Orleans Pelicans. One year later he was moved to the Milwaukee Bucks. He was named to the All-rookie first team in 2015 and rookie of the months twice. In 2019 he returned to Europe to play for Barcelona. Over four seasons, he helped the team win the Spanish title twice, in 2021 and 2023. On both years he won the MVP award. He also won the 2021 and 2022 King’s Cup, the second time he won the MVP award. He was MVP of the Spanish league in 2020. With Barcelona he was All-EuroLeague first team in 2021 and 2022, second team in 2023. In 2022 he was named season’s MVP.

NOTES – With the Spanish National Team, he won the Under 20 European Championships in 2011. With the National SeniorTeam, he won the gold medal at the European Championships in 2015 and the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016. He’s been named five times Spanish player of the year in the league.