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 reserve team, 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 came in 2022-23.
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.
No photograph of this signature is online yet.
| 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 ↗