Background and career
Darko Miličić (Serbian Cyrillic: Дарко Миличић, Serbian pronunciation: [ˈdarko ˈmilit͡ʃit͡ɕ]; born 20 June 1985) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. He is 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in), and played the center position. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2003 to 2012. Nicknamed "the Human Victory Cigar" for only playing in blowout wins or losses, Miličić is the fifth youngest player and the youngest foreign player to have played in the NBA, the youngest player to have played in an NBA Finals game, and the youngest player to win the NBA championship. Miličić was selected by the Detroit Pistons as the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft; he was chosen after number one pick LeBron James and ahead of other future NBA superstars including Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade. Selected with a high draft pick, Miličić never played at the level expected of him in the NBA and is widely considered a draft bust. While he won an NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004, Miličić never received significant playing time with the team and was traded to the Orlando Magic in 2006. Following stints with the Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, and New York Knicks, Miličić was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010 and signed a four-year contract with the team that summer. After being released by Minnesota in 2012, he played one regular-season game for the Boston Celtics later that year before being released. Miličić announced his retirement from the NBA in 2013; he retired with career averages of 6.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. In international play, Miličić played for the Serbian national team.
Miličić's parents are Milorad and Zora. During the Yugoslav Wars, when Miličić was not yet 10, he heard a news report in which his father was named as one of several Serbian soldiers killed in action; however, a few minutes later, the newscaster indicated some of the soldiers, including his father, had been incorrectly included as killed. His father ultimately survived the wars. His parents' families hail from Janj near Šipovo in Bosanska Krajina. His sister, Tijana, is a volleyball player. Miličić played his first youth basketball in BFC Beočin until the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia that lasted from 24 March to 10 June 1999, when he was forced to take a break. After that, Miličić played for the basketball club Sports World from Novi Sad, which is also a basketball school, where he became a dominant figure and received interest from bigger teams. He played club basketball with his friend Nemanja Jokić, the older brother of Nikola Jokić. At age 14, Miličić started playing basketball with the Serbian team Hemofarm's junior team. He was later called up from the junior team before being drafted by the NBA's Detroit Pistons in 2003.
The Detroit Pistons chose Miličić with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft. Unlike most teams with high draft choices, the Pistons were a good team that had made the Eastern Conference Finals the season before they drafted Miličić. The NBA draft rules had to be changed to allow Miličić to be drafted. The Pistons held the second overall draft pick because of a 1997 trade that had sent Otis Thorpe to the Vancouver Grizzlies. Miličić saw limited playing time during his first season with the Pistons, but became the youngest player to appear in an NBA Finals game (18 years and 356 days) and won an NBA championship five days later when the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals. During Game 5, Miličić broke his right hand after Brian Cook committed a shooting foul, resulting in him requiring surgery that sidelined him from the Pistons for eight weeks. Pistons team president Joe Dumars repeatedly stated that Miličić would play a big part in the team's future, but he did not see a large increase in playing time during his second season. However, on April 19, 2005, Miličić had his best game as a Piston, playing 30 minutes as a starter and recording 16 points, five rebounds, and three blocks. This was one of two games Miličić started in Detroit, with the other being the next game after where he played 30 minutes while recording nine points, three rebounds, and a block. Miličić never saw this amount of playing time as a Piston again and has been quoted on numerous occasions as attributing his slow development on his lack of playing time: "I've said it 10,000 times, the best way for me to improve is to play. All the work in practice and individual workouts can only help me so much". After Larry Brown's departure, Flip Saunders was hired as head coach of the Pistons. Under Saunders, Miličić still averaged only 5.6 minutes per game, and received significant playing time only in blowout wins or blowout losses for the Pistons. Miličić's lack of playing time in Detroit was frequently highlighted in publications. In the 96 games he played as a Piston, he only scored a total of 152 points and averaged 1.6 points and 5.8 minutes per game.
On 15 February 2006, just prior to the NBA's All-Star weekend, Miličić was traded, along with point guard Carlos Arroyo, to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato and a first-round pick in the 2007 NBA draft (Rodney Stuckey). During a game against the New York Knicks, Miličić played 32 minutes and finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, which were season highs for him, while leading the Magic in minutes for that game. Miličić averaged 2.4 blocks per game in his first 20 games as a member of the Magic. In round 1 of the 2007 playoffs, Orlando faced off against Miličić's old team, the Detroit Pistons, who swept Orlando in four games. During the series, Miličić increased his scoring to 12.3 on 58.8% shooting. When his rookie contract expired in the 2007 offseason, Orlando made him a qualifying offer, but the team withdrew that offer on 3 July 2007 and made Miličić an unrestricted free agent.
On 12 July 2007, the first day of free agency, Miličić was signed by the Memphis Grizzlies to a three-year, $21 million contract. He hurt his Achilles tendon practicing with the Serbian national team in the 2008 offseason but was available to start at the beginning of the season. Miličić began the 2008–09 season starting at power forward, but was moved to the bench due to poor play. He regained his starting job as his play steadily improved in early December 2008. Miličić's progress was set back by an injury on 26 December 2008, against the Indiana Pacers when he broke a knuckle on his right hand during the game. Miličić's time with the Grizzlies was one of the low points of his career; he did not want to play for the team, he suffered an injury, and the team was not performing well. Miličić's wife would recall that he would punch the walls of his house in anger after coming home from games. During a game against the Houston Rockets in early December 2008, he even deliberately ripped his jersey in frustration (the jersey was later autographed by him and sold at an auction).
On 25 June 2009, Miličić was traded to the New York Knicks for Quentin Richardson and cash considerations. On 17 December, Miličić said that he planned to leave the NBA and return to playing basketball in Europe the following season. In the eight games he played for the Knicks, Miličić averaged 2.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.5 assists.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
