Mario Hezonja

At 29 years old, Mario Hezonja has this physical status:

Mario Hezonja (Croatian pronunciation: [mxêzo]; born 25 February 1995) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Real Madrid of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He also represents the Croatian national team internationally. The Orlando Magic had selected him as the fifth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

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Junior career

Hezonja was promoted to the club level in Croatia when he was 12 years old, and Dubrovnik followed him for two seasons at the age of 13. Hezonja joined Croatia's Zagreb in 2010 and has been playing for the team since its inception. He won the Nike International Junior Tournament in 2011 with Zagreb. He and teammate Dario ari were also called to the All-Tournament team. Because of mononucleosis, he was compelled to miss the 2011–12 season.

Professional career

Hezonja began a three-year deal with Barcelona's Spanish club Barcelona in July 2012. He also had the ability to prolong his contract for a further four years with the club. Zagreb's former club, Zagreb, received €150,000 as a result of a buyout as he was still under contract. He was loaned to the Barcelona B of the LEB Oro, the Spanish second tier level division, for the 2012–2013 season. Hezonja was nominated for the FIBA Young Player of the Year Award in 2012, but Jonas Valano eventually received the honour.

In the 2012–13 season, Hezonja played in the EuroLeague for the first time. He appeared in only 2 games, averaging 2.5 points and 2 rebounds per game.

Hezonja played a very limited amount of minutes during the EuroLeague's 2013–14 season.

Hezonja's role in the team has increased from playing only during the garbage time in the previous season to around 15 minutes per game, beginning with the 2014–15 season. Hezonja defeated La Bruixa d'Or Manresa 102–53, winning the Spanish League MVP for the week 19 of the season on Sunday, 8-of-8 from the three-point line. After losing in a quarterfinal series to Olympiacos, Barcelona has ended their participation in the 2014-15 EuroLeague season. Hezonja scored 7.7 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist per game in over 22 EuroLeague games played.

Hezonja declared himself eligible for the 2015 NBA draft as an international "early-entrant" only days after Barcelona's dismissal in the EuroLeague. He had been considered a good lottery pick early in his career, but some people were dissatisfied by his decision not to submit for the draft in 2014, his first year of eligibility. Some Spanish and Croatian media saw this change as the player's reaction to poor communication in the final few months with Barcelona's head coach Xavi Pascual; Pascal denied there were any issues in contact; several Spanish and Croatian media saw it as the player's reaction to poor contact during the player's recent months. Barcelona ended the season in the final series of the 2015 Spanish League playoffs after losing 3–0 series to Real Madrid in the final round.

Hezonja was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Orlando Magic in the 2015 NBA draft on June 25th. He signed a rookie scale with the Magic on July 10, 2015.

In the team's season-opening loss to the Washington Wizards on October 28, he made his debut with the Magic on the bench, scoring 11 points in 25 minutes. In a 119-114 victory over the Boston Celtics on 31 January 2016, he scored a then-high 17 points. In a 130–116 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, he got off to his first NBA start and dunked four seconds into the game, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes. In a 102–89 victory over the Chicago Bulls, he scored a season-high 21 points on March 2nd. In a 107–98 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, he set career highs with seven assists and five steals while scoring 19 points.

The Magic ended the season with a 35-47 record, but they were unable to make the Playoffs. Hezonja made 79 appearances on 43.3 field goal percentages, with averages of 6.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists.

Hezonja saw minutes reduce under new head coach Frank Vogel, largely due to his poor defense. In a 108–82 loss to the Detroit Pistons on October 28, Hezonja scored 13 points in a 108–82 loss. In a 122-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 4, he tied his season high on the season high, putting on another 13-point effort. In a 113–109 victory over Detroit, Hezonja had a career-high 11 rebounds in his season finale on April 12, 2017.

Although his defense improved toward the end of the season, his shooting numbers slowed. His sophomore season was disappointing, with reduced minutes and 2.2 rebounds per game on 35.5 field goal percentages. The Magicians finished the season with a 29–53 record, but they missed the Playoffs.

Hezonja's fourth-year contract was not chosen by the Magic on October 31, 2017.

He made his first appearance of the season against the Atlanta Hawks on December 9th, despite seeing very little action in the beginning of the 2017-18 season. In a game against the Los Angeles Clippers on December 13, he scored a season-high 17 points and had nine rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. Hezonja scored a career-high 28 points and two assists on December 17th, when shooting 8 from 12 from the three-point line in a 114–110 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Hezonja and the New York Knicks announced on July 6, 2018, a one-year, $6.5 million contract.

Hezonja and the Portland Trail Blazers signed a two-year, $3.7 million contract on July 3, 2019.

In a three-team trade involving Enes Kanter Freedom, Hezonja was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies on November 20, 2020.

The Grizzlies waived him on December 11th.

Panathinaikos signed Hezonja for the remainder of 2020-2021 season on February 22nd, 2021. There was an option on his deal for an additional year (until June 30, 2022), but FC Barcelona's buy-out guarantee was worth about 400.000€. Enes Kanter, Hezonja's Turkish colleague, was accused of leading to his transfer to the Greek capital, despite having expressed his sympathies for both Panathinaikos and Greece in the past.

Hezonja signed with UNICS Kazan of the Russian Federation and of the EuroLeague until it was suspended due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was named a VTB United League All-Star on January 26, 2022, as part of the World Stars team.

Hezonja joined Real Madrid, the reigning Spanish champions, on a two-year contract on July 21, 2022.

National team career

Hezonja was named Most Valuable Player of the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship after leading his team to a double-double in the final, 21 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals. He averaged 20 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in the tournament. He was selected to the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Cup's All-Tournament Team.

Hezonja was a member of the senior Croatian national team that competed in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. He also represented Croatia at the EuroBasket 2015, where they were disqualified in the eighth finals by the Czech Republic. On 41.2 percent shooting from the field, he averaged 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in six tournament games.

He represented Croatia at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where the team finished in 5th place, where they placed fifth.

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