Mirza Teletović (born September 18, 1985) is a Bosnian former professional basketball player who was the president of the Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2018 to 2022. As a player, he spent six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represented and captained the Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team. Standing at , he played at the power forward position.
Teletović started his career in Bosnia with Sloboda Tuzla, which was followed by a stint in Belgium with Oostende. He played six years for Saski Baskonia, with whom he won two Liga ACB championships. He was also named to the All-ACB Team in 2012. Then, he played five seasons in the NBA for the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks. On September 27, 2018 Teletović announced his retirement after suffering a career-ending pulmonary embolism injury during his tenure with the Bucks and then got waived in March 2018, removing his final year of his contract in December of that same year.
Early life
Teletović lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War of the 1990s. His parents are from Jablanica in the Herzegovina region. He grew up in Mostar, a city which suffered an 18-month siege when he was a child during the Bosnian War. When Teletović shared his account of the war, he said: I was seven years old when the war started. First you start seeing that there's no food, then grenades come down, the whole city is shaking, and you hear people screaming. Every day, your parents come in and say 'our neighbor died, our cousin died'. Always somebody dying. One day, I asked my mother, 'Is anybody alive?' It was very, very rough for us. It left, I will say, a memory...All my friends and me are playing [basketball] and then you hear the sirens like the grenades start falling down and just run to your house and hide. If I have to die, I die. For basketball, I will do anything.
As a youth, Teletović spent some of his time playing soccer, as well as learning kickboxing and karate. However, he felt most comfortable with playing basketball, as he played the sport at a local basketball court not far from his home.
Professional career
Europe
Sloboda Tuzla (2002–2004) Teletović made his professional debut with the club Sloboda Tuzla, of the Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the 2002–03 season. In his first season with the club, he averaged 7.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, while in his second season, he increased his stats to 26.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over 17 games in the league.
Telindus Oostende (2004–2006) In 2004, Teletović moved to the Belgian Basketball League club Telindus Oostende and stayed for two seasons. He also played in Europe's second-tier level, continental-wide ULEB Cup competition, averaging 6.7 points and 2 rebounds.
Saski Baskonia (2006–2012) He joined the EuroLeague club Saski Baskonia (known as Tau Cerámica at the time), of the Spanish ACB League, in 2006. He played his first game in the Spanish League on October 1, 2006, in a game against Pamesa, where they won on the road by 95–94. In his first season in EuroLeague, Europe's first-tier level, continental-wide competition, he averaged 5.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He declared eligible for the 2007 NBA draft, but went undrafted.
In the next three seasons with the Spanish club, he became a starting player, and eventually became the captain of Baskonia, and one of the cornerstones of the team. In 2008, he won the Spanish League Rising Star Award. A year later, in 2009, when the club became known as Caja Laboral, he was named the MVP of the mid-season three game Spanish King's Cup tournament.
Over 10 games in the 2011–12 Euroleague season, he averaged a career-high 21.7 points and 6 rebounds per game. However, Caja Laboral did not reach the Top 16 round. In June 2012, Teletović reached a contract buyout agreement with Baskonia, for an amount of €2 million, in order to play the next year in the NBA.
NBA
Brooklyn Nets (2012–2015)
On July 16, 2012, Teletović signed a three-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets. He made his NBA debut on November 5, 2012 in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On March 1, 2013, Nets head coach P. J. Carlesimo said that he intended to put Teletović in the Nets rotation, along with giving him consistent minutes. He went on to tie his season-high of 14 points against the Washington Wizards in the team's second last game of the season on April 15. He managed just one playoff appearance for the Nets in their 4–3 first round series loss to the Chicago Bulls.