After the James Harden era in the Los Angeles Clippers kicked off in an underwhelming fashion, the team has since made impressive strides, climbing to the fourth sport in the East. And while most of the credit for this impressive run would go to his four future Hall of Fame teammates, Ivica Zubac has been as central to their 25-14 start as anyone with higher billing. The 26-year-old center is averaging his career-best 12.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists this season on a 65.5 shooting efficiency from the field, which is good enough to rank him third among the NBA centers.

However, his journey to becoming one of the premier centers in the league was anything but smooth, even reaching a point where he contemplated returning to Europe. But his resilience and unwavering determination ultimately paid off, solidifying his status as a key player for the Clippers. But let’s rewind the reel to where it all started for him.

Revisiting Ivica Zubac’s stint with the Los Angeles Lakers

Zubac was drafted into the league by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 32nd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Remarkably, he secured a spot in the starting lineup during his rookie year, filling in for Timofey Mozgov, who was tending to a tailbone injury. However, his prospects of shining in the league had started to look dim in his third year. The center position was log jammed with Tyson Chandler and JaVale McGee. As a result, he did not get to step on the hardwood until two months into the season. Reflecting on this challenging period, Zubac said on the Podcast P with Paul George, “During that period, I was like, ‘It’s over.’ This is the last year of my contract. I didn’t play for two months. Didn’t touch the floor. I’m done. I’m going back to Europe.”

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However, with Chandler turning 36 that year and McGee recovering from pneumonia, the Croatian center had once again found his way back to the starting lineup, playing alongside the likes of LeBron James and Rajon Rondo. “Luka Walton called me like ‘You are gonna start tomorrow. …We had Rondo starting, and we had LeBron starting, so with those guys, its a big-man lineup. It don’t get better than that,” mused the Clippers’ center.

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Since reclaiming his spot in the starting lineup, Zubac showcased his dominance in a series of impressive performances. Facing the New Orleans Pelicans, armed with talents like Anthony Davis and Julius Randle, Zubac exploded with a double-double and three blocks. The subsequent matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies saw Zubac contribute 19 points, even though the Lakers fell short with a score of 107-99.

The Lakers then bounced back with a victory against the star-studded Golden State Warriors’ lineup, featuring Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thomspon, and Draymond Green, with the final box score reading 127-101. The 7-foot center had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds that Christmas night in 2018. Soon after, his chapter with the Lakers came to a close, as he was then traded to the Clippers in 2019 along with Michael Beasley for center Mike Muscala.

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