Career: Bistrica (Slovenia-Division 1B, 1995-96), Maribor (Slovenia-Division 1A, 1996-97), Lasko (Slovenia-Division 1A, 1997-99), Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia-Division 1A, 1999-2001), Virtus Bologna (Italy-Lega, 2001-03), Krka (Slovenia-Division 1A, 2003-04), Varese (Italy-Lega, 2004-05), Fortitudo Bologna (Italy-Lega, 2005-06), Panathinaikos (Greece-ESAKE, 2006-07). Selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft (#46), by the Denver Nuggets
"After four years of constantly playing basketball during the summer, my body needs a break this year," said Sani Bečirovič a few weeks ago, shocking Slovenian fans with his announcement that he would not compete in EuroBasket 2007. National Team coach Aleš Pipan has promised that he will try to talk Becirovic out of the decision but the prospects don’t look good. A very bad knee injury threatened the 26-year-old’s career in 2002, after he had an unbelievable 2000-01 season in which he averaged 20.5 points per game in the Euroleague. The best thing that happened to Becirovic was joining Panathinaikos where he more than ably filled the shoes of Jaka Lakovič, who had just left for Barcelona. He claims that PAO's coach, Željko Obradović, was is the best in the world, which means a lot since he worked under the guidance of many acclaimed European coaches such as Ettore Messina. He was the unofficial MVP of the 1997 U16 European Championship and the official one, a year later, at the U18 European Championships where he averaged 28.5 points per game. The son of a professional basketball coach in Slovenia, Memi Becirovic, Sani began playing in the Slovenian professional leagues at the age of 14 and joined the Senior National Team at only 17.
