Boban Marjanović

Boban Marjanović
Boban Marjanović
Born	August 15, 1988 (age 38); Boljevac, Serbia
Occupation	Professional basketball player
Years active	2006–present
Known for	Playing in the NBA and international basketball

Boban Marjanović (; born August 15, 1988) is a Serbian professional basketball athlete who most recently played for the Zhejiang Lions in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He also represents the Serbian national team in international competitions.

Having secured the junior world championship title in 2007, Marjanović spent the years from 2010 to 2012 competing in Russia and Lithuania before gaining recognition in Serbia. As the 2013 MVP of the Serbian league, he signed with KK Crvena zvezda, where he contributed to winning both the national championship and the regional Adriatic Basketball League (ABA League) crown in 2015. That same year, he received several MVP honors and was selected among the top five players in both the ABA League and Europe’s premier club tournament, the EuroLeague.

Marjanović began his NBA career at age 27 when he joined the San Antonio Spurs in 2015. From 2016 through 2024, he played for multiple teams including the Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, and Houston Rockets. At , he is counted among the tallest athletes ever to compete in the NBA.

Early life

Born and raised in Boljevac, located in eastern Serbia, Marjanović displayed exceptional height early on despite having family members of average stature; his father measures . A medical condition affecting his pituitary gland, likely caused his gigantism.

He started his basketball journey with youth squads of Boljevac’s local club Rtanj. By age 14, standing tall, he progressed to join the Serbian professional outfit Hemofarm, competing within their youth ranks until the conclusion of the 2005–06 season.

Hemofarm (2006–2010)

Marjanović was promoted to Hemofarm’s senior squad competing in the Adriatic League during the 2005–06 campaign. In January 2007, he was temporarily transferred to Serbian League side Swisslion Takovo for six months before returning to Hemofarm. His teammates during this period included prominent players such as Stefan Marković and Milan Mačvan.

CSKA Moscow (2010–2011)

In the summer of 2010, Marjanović inked a three-year deal with Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow upon recommendation from coach Duško Vujošević.

Žalgiris (2011)

Following Vujošević’s exit from CSKA, Marjanović lost his place in the main roster and was loaned out on December 31, 2010, to Lithuanian club Žalgiris for the remainder of that season.

Nizhny Novgorod (2011–2012)

In July 2011, Marjanović signed with Russian team Nizhny Novgorod, where he remained for half a season.

Radnički Kragujevac (2012)

He returned to Serbia on loan in January 2012, joining Radnički Kragujevac for the rest of the 2011–12 season.

Mega Vizura (2012–2013)

Marjanović committed to Serbian club Mega Vizura in July 2012 for the duration of the 2012–13 campaign. His outstanding performance earned him the title of Serbian League MVP.

Crvena zvezda (2013–2015)

On July 2, 2013, Marjanović committed to a two-year deal with Crvena zvezda. By December of that year, he had earned the distinction of EuroLeague MVP for Round 10. In April 2014, he was honored as part of the Ideal Team for the 2013–14 ABA League season, joining forces with teammate DeMarcus Nelson.

During the opening game of the 2014–15 EuroLeague campaign, Marjanović propelled Crvena zvezda to a 76–68 triumph over Galatasaray, delivering 22 points and securing 10 rebounds within 28 minutes of play. This performance earned him the EuroLeague MVP award for Round 1. On November 22, 2014, he notched 23 points alongside a personal best of 17 rebounds in a double-overtime defeat to Galatasaray—the highest rebound count in a single EuroLeague game since the 2011–12 season.

On April 9, Marjanović broke the EuroLeague single-season rebounding record by amassing 256 boards, surpassing Mirsad Türkcan’s previous record of 248 set during the 2002–03 season. Additionally, he established a new benchmark for most double-doubles in one season with 16, overtaking Tanoka Beard’s mark of 14 from 2004–05. Across 24 EuroLeague contests, he achieved career-best averages of 16.6 points, led the league with 10.7 rebounds per game, and recorded a record Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 25.67.

On April 2, 2015, Marjanović was once more named to the Ideal Team for the ABA League's 2014–15 season. That same month, he played a pivotal role in securing Crvena zvezda’s 2014–15 ABA League championship and was honored as the playoffs MVP. In May, he earned selection to the prestigious All-EuroLeague First Team.

On June 5, 2015, Marjanović received his third consecutive Serbian Super League MVP award after leading his team to finish first in the regular season with a commanding 13–1 record. Crvena zvezda clinched the Serbian League title by sweeping their fierce rivals Partizan Belgrade in a clean 3–0 series victory.

San Antonio Spurs (2015–2016)

Marjanović inked a one-year contract worth $1.2 million with the San Antonio Spurs on July 17, 2015. He made his debut on October 30 by contributing six points and five rebounds during a commanding 102–75 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. On December 4, he was assigned to San Antonio’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, but was recalled just two days later. Shortly thereafter, on December 7, he delivered an efficient performance scoring 18 points on an impressive 8-of-10 shooting in a dominant 119–68 win against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Marjanović made notable impacts in crucial matches throughout December, including a flawless shooting night where he tallied 17 points on December 28 in a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, extending the Spurs’ franchise-record home winning streak to 27 games. Two days later, he became the first player in Spurs history to grab at least 12 rebounds within less than fifteen minutes during a win over the Phoenix Suns. On January 21, 2016, he posted another strong showing with 17 points and a career-high of thirteen rebounds in a decisive 117–89 victory against the Suns.

In March, Marjanović experienced brief reassignment to the Austin Spurs before being recalled again. On March 23, he scored what was then a personal best of nineteen points during a convincing 112–88 win over the Miami Heat. He closed out the regular season on April 13 by setting new career highs with twenty-two points and twelve rebounds in a triumph over the Dallas Mavericks.

Detroit Pistons (2016–2018)

Following the conclusion of the 2015–16 season, Marjanović entered restricted free agency. On July 7, 2016, he inked a three-year contract worth $21 million with the Detroit Pistons. The Spurs chose not to match this offer, officially transferring Marjanović to the Pistons on July 12. On January 5, 2017, he delivered 15 points along with a personal best of 19 rebounds during a narrow 115–114 victory against the Charlotte Hornets, benefiting from increased playing time due to Andre Drummond’s foul issues and Aron Baynes’ injury. Later, on April 7, 2017, coming off the bench, he posted career-high numbers with 27 points and 12 rebounds in a 114–109 win over the Houston Rockets.

Los Angeles Clippers (2018–2019)

Marjanović was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on January 29, 2018, as part of a multi-player deal involving Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, and future draft selections in exchange for Blake Griffin, Willie Reed, and Brice Johnson. On February 27, 2018, he reached a season-high scoring output of 18 points during a tight 122–120 triumph over the Denver Nuggets.

Philadelphia 76ers (2019)

On February 6, 2019, Marjanović was moved to the Philadelphia 76ers alongside Tobias Harris. Throughout 22 regular-season appearances, he averaged 8.2 points and grabbed 5.1 rebounds in just under 14 minutes per game. He played a role in helping the 76ers advance past the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs; however, their postseason run ended in the Conference Semifinals against the Toronto Raptors.

Dallas Mavericks (2019–2022)

Marjanović signed with the Dallas Mavericks on July 23, 2019. On March 11, 2020, he achieved a career-best performance with 31 points and 17 rebounds in a commanding 113–97 victory over the Denver Nuggets—the final game before the season’s suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He later renewed his contract with Dallas on August 10, 2021.

Houston Rockets (2022–2024)

On June 24, 2022, Marjanović was traded to the Houston Rockets along with Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss, Sterling Brown, and draft rights to Wendell Moore Jr., in exchange for Christian Wood. The Rockets waived him on February 9, 2023 following a three-team trade.

Just four days later, on February 13, Marjanović rejoined Houston by signing again with the team. Notably, on April 14, 2024, during an away game against the Los Angeles Clippers, he deliberately missed two free throws to trigger a Chick-fil-A promotional event that awarded fans free chicken sandwiches. In September of that year, he signed with Fenerbahçe of Turkey.

Fenerbahçe Beko (2024)

Marjanović officially signed with Fenerbahçe Beko on September 18, 2024 to compete in both the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL) and EuroLeague for the upcoming season. He parted ways with the Turkish team on December 23, 2024.

Zhejiang Lions (2025)

On January 2, 2025, Marjanović committed to playing for the Zhejiang Lions in China’s Basketball Association (CBA).

National team career

In his junior years, Marjanović secured gold medals at both the 2007 FIBA Under-19 World Championship and the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. Although shortlisted for EuroBasket 2009 and the FIBA World Championship in 2010, he did not make Serbia’s final rosters for those tournaments. His senior national team debut occurred at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania where Serbia finished eighth.

In August of 2015, despite no fractures being detected by Serbia’s Basketball Federation regarding his left foot pain, Marjanović was withheld from participating in EuroBasket by his NBA team at that time—the San Antonio Spurs.

At EuroBasket 2017, he was instrumental in Serbia winning silver while averaging averages of 12.4 points per game along with contributions of 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists over nine matches while shooting efficiently at a rate of 56.2%.

During the highly anticipated 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Serbia was favored but suffered an upset loss to Argentina in the quarterfinals. They ultimately secured fifth place after victories against both the United States and Czech Republic. Across eight games in that tournament, Marjanović averaged 6.8 points and pulled down an average of 2.5 rebounds per contest.

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio | 54 || 4 || 9.4 || .603 || || .763 || 3.6 || .4 || .2 || .4 || 5.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | 35 || 0 || 8.4 || .545 || || .810 || 3.7 || .3 || .2 || .3 || 5.5 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | 19 || 1 || 9.0 || .519 || || .800 || 3.0 || .7 || .2 || .3 || 6.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 20 || 0 || 8.3 || .551 || || .788 || 4.4 || .4 || .3 || .3 || 5.9 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2| | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 36 || 9 || 10.4 || .607 || .000 || .758 || 4.2 || .6 || .3 || .5 || 6.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Philadelphia | 22 || 3 || 13.9 || .625 || .500 || .722 || 5.1 || 1.5 || .2 || .5 || 8.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Dallas | 44 || 5 || 9.6 || .573 || .235 || .754 || 4.5|| .5|| .2|| .2||6.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Dallas | 33||3||8.2||.508||.125|| .816||3.9||.3||.1||.2||4.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Dallas |23||0||5.6||.600||.250||.591||1.7||.1||0||.1||4.3 |-

| style="text-align:left;" |  
| style="text-align:left;" | Houston 
|31||0||5.5||.683||0||.741||1.9||.3||.2||.1||3.3

|-

| style="text-align:left;" |  
| style="text-align:left;" | Houston 
|14||0||5.1||.529||0||.643||2.3||.4||.1||.1||3.2

|-class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career 
|331||25||8.7||.578||.238||.762||3.6||.5||.2||.3||5..5

Playoffs

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 
| style="text-align:left;" |San Antonio 
|7||0||6..0|||'.667|||—|||.889|||2..0|||0..4|||0|||.3|||3..4

|-

| style="text-align:left;" |Template:Nbapy 
| style="text-align:left;" |Philadelphia 
|11|||0|||9..5|||.600'|||.000|||.842|||3..3|||1..0|||0..2|||.3|||5..8

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | Template:Nbapy 
| style="text-align:left;" | Dallas 
|6|||0|||13..7|||.567|||.000|||.778|||5..8|||0..8|||0..0|||.3|||6..8

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | Template:Nbapy 
| style="text-align:left;" | Dallas 
|4|||3|||20..8|||.513||||.778|||8..0|||1..0|||0..0|||.3|||11..3

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | Template:Nbapy 
| style="text-align:left;" | Dallas 
|3|||0|||2..0|||.250||||.1000|||1..0|||0..0|||.3|||0..0|||1..3

|-class="sortbottom"

|style="text-align:center" colspan= "2"|Career  
|31||||10..3||||560||||833||||39||||07||||01||||03||||58

EuroLeague

*	League leader

|- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| 2010–11 | style="text-align:left;"| CSKA Moscow | 8 || 3 || 11.4 || .458 || || .923 || 3.5 || .4 || .6 || .6 || 4.3 || 5.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Žalgiris | 6 || 1 || 12.3 || .647 || || .643 || 3.5 || .3 || .2 || .5 || 5.2 || 5.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2013–14 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Crvena zvezda | 10 || 9 || 19.9 || .616 || || .621 || 7.7 || 1.0 || .9 || .8 || 10.8 || 15.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15 | 24 || 24 || 27.3 || .621 || || .781 || style="background:#CFECEC;"|10.7* || 1.0 || .4 || .9 || 16.6 || style="background:#CFECEC;"|25.7* |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2024–25 | style="text-align:left;"| Fenerbahçe Beko | 6 || 2 || 10.0 || .455 || .000 || 1.000 || 3.5 || .7 || .2 || .0 || 4.0 || 5.2 |- |-class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 54 || 39 || 20.0 || .601 || .000 || .761 || 7.5 || .8 || .5 || .7 || 11.0 || 16.3

Appearances in films and television

Marjanović took on a cameo role portraying Jānis Krūmiņš in the Serbian sports film We Will Be the World Champions released in 2015.

In the American thriller John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), he appeared as an assassin who recites lines from Dante's Divine Comedy, participating in a fight sequence alongside the lead character.

He portrayed the grand master in the Serbian television comedy series Državni posao in 2021. Marjanović shares a strong friendship with NBA star Tobias Harris; they have been part of trades together twice and jointly featured in commercials for Goldfish snacks and a State Farm Insurance campaign.

Additionally, Marjanović appeared in the Netflix production Hustle, which was produced by LeBron James and Adam Sandler.

In 2023, he acted as an assassin in the Hulu original comedy-thriller Self Reliance.

Looking ahead to 2025, Marjanović is cast as Drago Larson, a formidable enforcer on the professional golf circuit, in the film Happy Gilmore 2.

External links

Official player profile on euroleague.net