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Looking forany autographLuka Samanic
One collector is trying to find a single signature from every man who ever played for the Jazz — all 370 of them, from the 1974 New Orleans team to today. For many of them, this page is the only one on the internet. Here is Luka Samanic: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you own something he signed — or you know who might — there is a note at the foot of this page.
Samanic did not touch a basketball until he was 11 — football, handball, tennis and even breakdancing came first — but the son of a 19-year pro from Zagreb caught up fast. At 16 he joined Barcelona's youth ranks, won the 2017 European under-18 Division B title with Croatia as tournament MVP, and San Antonio drafted him 19th in 2019. His Jazz stint ran from March 2023 through the 2023-24 season.
His father Marko's playing career carried the family through Belgium, Slovenia and Germany before Luka ever picked a sport. He now plays for UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League.
HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah gave him his way back into the league on a 10-day contract on March 28, 2023, converted into a multi-year deal that April, and let him go in the 2024 offseason.
- Utah Jazz tenure
- 2022–24
- Position
- Forward
- Born
- 2000, Zagreb, Croatia
- Height
- 6′10″ (208 cm)
- Weight
- 227 lb (103 kg)
- Drafted
- 2019, 1st round (No. 19), San Antonio
A card. A photo. A program. A page from an old autograph book. Anything he put his name on.
You do not need to know what it is. Take a photo with your phone and send it to me. I will tell you what you have, for free, whether or not anything comes of it. I pay the postage both ways. I answer every message myself, usually the same day.
With the Jazz
LUKA SAMANIC · 2022–24 · PER GAME| SEASON | TEAM | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–23 | UTA | 7 | 23.0 | 9.9 | 4.3 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | .456 | .258 | .692 |
| 2023–24 | UTA | 43 | 9.4 | 4.1 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | .380 | .203 | .786 |
| JAZZ TOTAL | 2 SEASONS | 50 | 11.3 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | .400 | .221 | .768 |
Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗
Did you know
LUKA SAMANIC · 6 NOTES- Turned professional in Slovenia as a teenager before entering the NBA draft at 19.
- Moved to Barcelona at sixteen to join FC Barcelona's youth ranks, reaching the reserve team a year later.
- As a Barcelona junior he won dunk contests in Tenerife and at the EuroLeague Final Four fan zone.
- He hit the dagger three with 45 seconds left in overtime as Croatia won U18 European Division B gold in Tallinn in 2017.
- His first NBA start came against the Jazz — 16 points and six rebounds in a Utah win in August 2020.
- Scouts compared his game to a blend of Toni Kukoc and Kristaps Porzingis, a comparison the teenager happily embraced.