National Team Players Without Clubs Ahead of Qualifiers
Luka Božić and Krešo Radovčić arrive for preparations without signed contracts, while Radovčić is linked with a move to Gripama.
Luka Božić and Krešo Radovčić arrive for preparations without signed contracts, while Radovčić is linked with a move to Gripama.
As the Croatian basketball national team prepares for the continuation of World Cup qualifiers, head coach Tomislav Mijatović faces an unusual situation. Among the fifteen players he has called up for the gathering next Wednesday are two who still do not have a club for the upcoming season: Luka Božić and Krešo Radovčić.
Luka Božić, a 28-year-old from Bjelovar, enters the preparations as a free agent despite an impressive season in Spain's ACB league. He spent the last two years on loan, first at Lleida from Valencia, and then at Murcia, which was relegated from the league in the spring. Despite that, Božić finished the season as the league's most statistically valuable player, was the fourth-leading scorer, and the second-leading rebounder in the championship.
Given such numbers, it is somewhat surprising that he still does not have a contract in August. EuroLeague side Baskonia has shown interest, but a concrete agreement has not yet been reached. One of the reasons is estimated to be his annual salary of around 300,000 euros, which makes him too expensive for clubs with smaller budgets.
That figure, for instance, was beyond the pay scale of Cibona, which was mentioned as a potential suitor. It is believed that Božić is looking for a club where he could make an additional step forward in his career and play in the EuroCup or EuroLeague, but the problem is that clubs at that level have mostly already assembled their rosters.
The other national team player without a club is Krešo Radovčić, the former captain of Cibona, with whom he lifted the Croatian championship trophy in Zadar. The Šibenik-born guard has been linked for some time with a move to Split, which has been actively assembling its squad for the upcoming season in recent days.
Given the shortage of quality domestic players on the market, the national team playmaker would be a major reinforcement for coach Damir Rančić's side. The Yellows currently have only Nou Svoboda, Vito Kučić, and American shooter Trenton McLaughlin, who arrived from Lithuanian club Nevežis, in the backcourt positions.
Both players will have to keep an eye on the market situation during the national team preparations, which can be a burden but also an extra motivation to prove themselves. They will have the opportunity to do so before the qualifying matches against Latvia in Zadar on August 27, 2026, and the Netherlands in Almere on August 30, 2026.
Croatia will compete in a tournament in Hamburg, where they will first face current European runners-up Turkey, and then, depending on the result, either the hosts and European champions Germany or the Czech Republic in the final or the third-place match. Given that both players have had a good season behind them, nerves should not be too much of an issue, although there is always some when you enter August as a free agent.
