Valencia Basket has reached an agreement with Montenegrin power forward Nikola Mirotic (2.08m, Podgorica, 11/02/1991, 35 years old), who is also an international player for Spain, to join the club for the 2026-27 season. The player arrives as a free agent after parting ways with AS Monaco, where he competed in the EuroLeague Playoffs last season (11 points on 39.3% from three, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists for a 12.7 rating in 31 continental competition games) and helped the team win four titles (Super Cup, Leaders Cup, French Cup and French League) with stats of 11.1 points on 40.3% from three and 3.7 rebounds during the 2025-26 season.
Mirotic will continue his EuroLeague career at Valencia Basket, beginning his 13th season in the top tier of continental basketball. A constant presence in EuroLeague that has only been interrupted in his professional career during the season he played on loan in Palencia when he was 18 years old and during his five seasons in the NBA between 2014 and 2019.
His EuroLeague career trajectory stands at 14.4 points per game on 39.9% from three, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists for 17.1 rating per game across a total of 307 games in a continental tournament in which he has qualified for the Final Four six times. A figure that will continue to grow as a Valencia player in a historic record where he is currently the fifth most-valued player and the fifth leading scorer in tournament history.
Mirotic's trophy cabinet includes fifteen titles with clubs, having won the national league three times in Spain and once each in Italy and France, two medals with the Spanish national team: gold at the 2015 EuroBasket and bronze at the 2016 Olympics, and more than twenty individual awards and inclusions in All-Tournament teams of competitions.
Following this signing, Mirotic becomes the first player in Valencia Basket's history to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team (2014-15 season) and the first player to join the Valencia squad after being named EuroLeague MVP (which he was in 2022).
Training in Spain
Nikola Mirotic Stajovic arrived at Real Madrid's youth academy at age 14 and completed his development and took his first steps in professional basketball with the white team, which gives him the status of a locally trained player for the Liga Endesa. Mirotic played his first professional minutes with Real Madrid at the Palau Blaugrana on March 4, 2009, and after a year on loan in Palencia, returned to the white team to begin a period in which he won one league title, two Cups and two Super Cups. Individually, he was named ACB MVP in 2013, was selected twice as EuroLeague Rising Star and twice to the All-EuroLeague Second Team. He was selected 23rd in the 2011 draft and that same summer led Spain to gold at the U20 European Championship, earning tournament MVP honors. Mirotic finally made the jump to the NBA in 2014.
Five Seasons in the NBA
The Chicago Bulls were the team that acquired his rights and gave him the opportunity to debut in the NBA. His performance was so strong in his first season that he made the All-Rookie Team in 2014-15. After three and a half seasons in Chicago, a trade sent him to the New Orleans Pelicans. And barely a year later, in February 2019, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite posting 15.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in his final NBA season, Mirotic decided to return across the Atlantic to play in the EuroLeague.
Return to Europe
FC Barcelona was instrumental in bringing Mirotic back, and he spent four seasons with the Catalan club winning two ACB titles, two Cups and one Super Cup. On an individual level, he was named EuroLeague MVP in 2022, made the All-EuroLeague Team twice (2021 and 2022), won another ACB MVP (2020) and two Finals MVP awards (2021 and 2023), and was included in the Liga Endesa All-Tournament teams in all four of his seasons, twice in the first team and twice in the second team.
After his stint with the Blaugrana ended, he signed a two-year contract with Olimpia Armani Milano where he won one league title (earning Finals MVP) and one Super Cup. Upon the expiration of that contract, he joined AS Monaco for the 2025-26 season, the previous season's EuroLeague finalist, helping them win all four available titles in French basketball: Super Cup, Leaders Cup, French Cup and French League. Following the departure of the Monaco basketball team from elite competition, Mirotic will continue playing EuroLeague basketball with Valencia Basket.