Olimpia Milano’s transfer window continues, and after strengthening their guards, it’s time to add their big men. Following Giampaolo Ricci’s confirmation and Booker’s arrival, Vlatko Čančar, a Slovenian forward from the Denver Nuggets with several NBA seasons under his belt, is also arriving.
CAREER
Slovenian, born in 1997, he began his youth career with KK Zapad. He signed his first professional contract in 2015 with BC Olimpija Ljubljana, dividing his time between the first team and the youth team. In the summer of 2016, he moved to Mega Leks. His first experience outside Slovenia was remarkable, and in the ABA Liga he established himself as a great offensive talent.
The excellent impact in Serbia is convincing San Pablo Burgos gave him a chance and, in the summer of 2018, moved to Spain to compete in the highly competitive ACB league. In 31 games played in the 2018/2019 season, he averaged 8,1 points, 4,1 rebounds, 52,3% two-point shooting, and 32,8% three-point shooting in 25,2 minutes.
Despite being selected in the second round of the 2017 draft by the Denver Nuggets, decides to make the leap to the NBA only in the summer of 2019, signing a rookie contract with the Colorado franchise. His first season across the Atlantic is not the easiest. He played only 14 games before ending up in the G League with the Erie BayHawks. The following year he found space, managing to appear in 41 regular season games, but still with very low minutes (6,9 minutes on average).
The 2021/2022 season comes to an abrupt end after just 15 games played, due to a fracture in January 2022. Despite his physical problems, the Nuggets offered him another three-year contract, and in the 2022/2023 season, things seemed to be looking up for him. He joined the rotation on the team that would win the NBA title, playing 60 games at an average of nearly 15 minutes. But when it seemed his chance in the NBA had finally arrived, Another bad knee injury keeps him out for a good part of the 2024/2025 seasonNow on the fringes of the NBA, he decides to accept Olimpia Milano’s offer to return to Europe.
A stable member of the national team since he was young, He took part in the team that won the gold medal at the European Championships in 2017 and reached the Olympic semi-final in Tokyo 2020, losing the bronze medal match against France.
But what kind of player is he? Vlatko Čančar ?
Obviously, Olimpia fans who have followed him less in recent years are legitimately wondering what kind of player he is. Through our scouting we will try to provide an answer. Taking advantage once again of our collaboration with Synergy, we will try to describe the player’s strengths and weaknesses.
We will focus more on the 2022/2023 season, the one in which he played the most matches and which provides us with the most data.
Continued on the next page