Former Spanish national team player and one of the best European power forwards of the last 15 years, Nikola Mirotic, finds himself at one of the last, if not the very last, crossroads of his professional career.
Information has surfaced in the Spanish media that Nikola Mirotic is considering retirement as a valid option, even though he is 35 years old and still capable of contributing to teams.
During the summer, he was linked with several teams after the financial collapse of Monaco became clear as day – most frequently with a return to Spain, where he delivered his best performances wearing the jerseys of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Looking at everything that has happened to him in recent years, the question arises whether Nikola Mirotic has said everything he had to say to basketball, or if there is still one unfinished chapter left for the book of his career to become a complete final product.
The Monaco collapse
He spent last season in Monaco, where he struggled with injuries, and as the icing on the cake – and the cherry on top – came the total financial collapse of the team, which he believed was one of his last tickets to winning his first career EuroLeague title.
A top-tier team was built, which had already reached the final in the 2024/25 season before being stopped by Fenerbahce. It seemed that he was the missing piece of the puzzle – someone to take the offensive burden off Mike James’s shoulders and fit seamlessly into the frontcourt alongside Daniel Theis, Jaron Blossomgame, Alpha Diallo, and Kevarrius Hayes. He would always be surrounded by two excellent defenders, which all four of those mentioned are, and on the other end, he could repay them with a top offensive arsenal that everyone knows is still in him.
Everything looked good until December, when the first cracks in the armor began to appear due to the new financial situation. Injuries followed, and it all ended with missing the entire LNB Pro A playoffs. The season concluded with four trophies won, which is historic in itself, but the one he came for was missing – the EuroLeague.
Unbelieveably close, miles away
Even in the seasons before that, while playing for Milano, although he won trophies in the domestic championship, he failed to reach the Final Four, even though he was supposed to be the one to drag Ettore Messina’s team to the ultimate goal as a final piece to their stacked rosters. Somehow, that teams didn’t even qualify for play-in, let alone playoffs.
In fact, he came closest while playing for Barcelona under Sarunas Jasikevicius, when Blaugrana reached the Final Four for three consecutive years, often as favorites, only to fall at one of the final steps every time – whether to Anadolu Efes in the 2021 final or in the semifinal El Clasicos against Real Madrid in the following two years.
It was always unbelievably close, yet miles away.
He was far from unsuccessful, as evidenced by his numerous individual accolades, such as the 2022 EuroLeague MVP, two Liga Endesa MVPs, and an immense number of domestic trophies.
Failing to win a EuroLeague title does not make a player unsuccessful, but it leaves an asterisk next to his name with the usual “what if…”
Still, we repeat the question from earlier: Has Nikola Mirotic truly said all he had to say to basketball?
