Nationality Serbian Listed weight 86 kg (190 lb) Weight 86 kg Number 9 | Listed height 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Playing career Height 1.98 m Pro career 2013 | |
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League Basketball League of SerbiaABA LeagueChampions League Similar Mihajlo Andrić, Branislav Ratkovica, Stefan Birčević, Miloš Koprivica, Uroš Luković | ||
Vanja Marinković (Serbian: Вања Маринковић, born January 9, 1997) is a Serbian professional basketball player who plays for Partizan Belgrade of the Basketball League of Serbia. Standing at 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in), he plays at the shooting guard position.
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Early life
Marinković was born in Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia. He comes from relatively-sports family; his father Zoran is football referee and cinematographer, while his mother Dragana and his six-year older brother both played basketball in youth. Marinković started playing basketball for Belgrade-based club Vračar where he played from 2006 until 2010. He then moved to Koledž where he stayed for one season.
Partizan Belgrade
In the summer of 2011, he moved to play with Partizan's youth categories. He continued to play with the youth categories of the team for four seasons, with the exception of the last season in which he played occasionally, as he spent most of his time training with the senior team.
In 2013–14 season, he started working with the senior team of Partizan, under head coach Duško Vujošević. He debuted for the team in the Serbian Cup game against FMP Belgrade. However, although being capped for the games many times, he occasionally got the chance to play in the rest of the season. Partizan finished the season winning its 13th consecutive domestic league title, defeating archrivals Crvena zvezda by 3-1 in the final series; that would be the only title won over the season. He also became a champion with Partizan's junior team by beating Crvena zvezda in the final game.
In 2014–15 season, he became a standard part of senior team's rotation. On November 8, he led his team with season-high 20 points in 65–50 win over MZT Skopje, showing great potential for the future. Three days after turning 18, on January 12, 2015, he signed his first professional, four-year contract with Partizan. Over the season, he appeared in 29 games of the ABA League, averaging 3.9 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. He also played in the Eurocup where Partizan was eliminated in the Group E. On September 18, 2015, he appeared in the EuroBasket 2015 special event - FIBA European U-18 All-Star game, consisted of the 24 most talented European players born in 1997 or after. He led his Team Black with 17 points and 4 assists in 82–87 loss to Team Red.
Starting with the 2015–16 season, after very turbulent summer for Partizan and many roster and organizational changes, Marinković was named the team captain. However, his performances in the beginning of the season were below expectations. He shortly responded to the criticism about his form with 14 points on 7 November in 86–77 win over, at the time, league leader Budućnost.
International career
Marinković represented the Serbia men's national under-16 and under-17 basketball team at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship where they won the silver medal. The following year he was part of the U17 national team that won the bronze medal at the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship.