Dario Šarić

Early years

After joining Zagreb, he won the Città di Roma Euroleague (IJT) in 2011, alongside teammates, Mario Hezonja and Dominik Mavra, and progressed to the Final Four of the tournament, which his team eventually won. After he had registered a triple-double in the final game with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, in addition to 10 drawn fouls, he was named the MVP of the tournament.

In 2010 and 2011, Šarić was nominated for the FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year Award.

In 2012, he was selected to play for the World Team, for the second year in a row, at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon. In the all-star game, the international players of the World Team beat the US team, with Šarić scoring 13 points and leading in rebounds (14) and assists (5).

He signed with Bilbao Basket and was loaned to Split in 2012. However, due to a sanction by FIBA, forcing the Spanish team to pay a buyout of €550,000, he didn't sign with Bilbao. After that, he trained with Split, but was not playing games with them.

Cibona Zagreb (2012–2014)

In November 2012, he signed a four-year contract with the Croatian club Cibona.

Again, in 2012, he was nominated for the FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award, finishing second.

Šarić had initially decided to declare for the 2013 NBA draft on April 4, 2013. However, two days after the initial declaration, he decided not to participate in it and had planned to play for KK Cibona for at least one more season. Šarić would, however, officially declare himself for the draft once again on April 14, 2013. Finally, Šarić withdrew from the draft altogether, because of his desire to stay in Europe for another year, to gain experience.

In 2013, he won the Croatian National Cup and Croatian League championship with Cibona, and won the MVP award for the Croatian finals.

He was named the 2013 FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year in February 2014. In April 2014, he was selected into the ideal team and also named the MVP of the Adriatic League, averaging 16.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in the regular season. In the Final Four of the competition, Cibona eventually won the league championship, and Šarić was also proclaimed the MVP of the final four. He was also named the ABA League Top Prospect for the 2013–14 season.

Anadolu Efes (2014–2016)

On June 24, 2014, he signed a 2+1 contract with the Turkish team Anadolu Efes. Cibona also received US$1.2 million in the name of buyout from Anadolu Efes, as Šarić was still under contract with them. He signed the offer days before the 2014 NBA draft commenced. The Orlando Magic selected Šarić 12th overall in the draft, but immediately traded Šarić to the Philadelphia 76ers for Elfrid Payton. After the draft, Šarić stated that he planned on playing in Europe for at least one more year, but promised that he would eventually play in the NBA.

At the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Šarić's father criticized Efes's head coach, Dušan Ivković, for not putting Dario in the roster for the Turkish League games, openly threatening possible termination of the player's contract, if the situation didn't improve. He was named the EuroLeague 2014–15 season's MVP of the Month for the month of November, becoming the youngest player in EuroLeague history to win the monthly MVP award. Over 4 EuroLeague games in November, he averaged 15.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

In January 2015, he was named the 2014 FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year, his second consecutive award.

Anadolu Efes finished their participation in the EuroLeague season, after they lost their quarterfinal playoffs series to Real Madrid, by a 3–1 series result. Over 27 Euroleague games played 2014–15 season, Šarić averaged 9.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.

Philadelphia 76ers (2016–present)

On July 15, 2016, Šarić signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. In just his third NBA game on November 1, 2016, Šarić scored 21 points in a 103–101 loss to the Orlando Magic. On November 9, he recorded his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds in a 122–115 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers. He started in the 76ers' first 10 games to begin the season before being moved to the bench on November 16 against the Washington Wizards. He tied his season high mark on December 3, recording 21 points along with 12 rebounds in a 107–106 loss to the Boston Celtics. On February 9, 2017, he had a 26-point effort in a 112–111 win over the Orlando Magic. On March 2, 2017, he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in February, after his injured teammate Joel Embiid had won each month prior. Šarić is second among all rookies in points and rebounds per game and total double-doubles to Embiid.

National team

While playing with Croatia's Under-16 national team, Šarić was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2010 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in a unanimous vote, after leading the tournament in scoring (24.3 ppg) and rebounding (11.5 rpg), and finishing second in assists (5.8 apg). He registered a triple-double (30 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists) in the final, becoming only the second player to do so (after Ricky Rubio in 2006).

He won a gold medal with Croatia's Under-18 national team in the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, where he finished first in scoring (25.6 ppg) and second in rebounds (10.1 rpg). Soon after scoring 39 points to lead Croatia to victory in the gold medal game against Lithuania, Šarić was voted unanimously as tournament MVP.

Šarić also played with Croatia's Under-19 national team in the 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where he finished fourth in scoring (18.1 ppg) and third in rebounds (10.1 rpg), despite being one of the youngest participants at 17 years of age. He also played at the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where he averaged 20.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists per game.

Šarić represented the senior men's Croatian national basketball team at a major FIBA tournament for the first time at EuroBasket 2013, where he averaged 5.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game. He then played with Croatia's senior men's team at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, where he averaged 11.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.

He also played with Croatia at the EuroBasket 2015, where they were eliminated in the eighth finals by Czech Republic. Over 6 tournament games, he averaged 9.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game, on 44.7% shooting from the field.

Šarić played with Croatia at the 2016 Olympic games, where they were eliminated in the quarter finals by Serbia. Over 6 tournament games, he averaged 33.1 minutes, 11.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, on 43.1% shooting from the field.

Personal life

Šarić is the son of basketball-playing parents, Predrag and Veselinka Šarić. Predrag played during the 1980s for KK Šibenik alongside Dražen Petrović.

Career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Club honours

Individual