(BVM Sportsdesk)
January 21st, 2024
The inaugural ‘Who is…?’ post. What this will turn into I have no clue. There are tens of thousands of people across professional and collegiate sports whether it be players, coaches, trainers, equipment staff, etc., and that means there are also that many individual stories. Might not be able to share all of them but we’re going to try.
In this first installment we’ll talk a little bit about the head coach of the Toronto Raptors, Darko Rajakovic. In the last two weeks we’ve arguably seen more of Darko than any other coach in the league. In his January 9th postgame speech after the 132-131 loss to the Lakers that would be nominated for ‘Rant of the Year’ if that was an award. In his rant he put league officials on blast for how his team has been treated when driving to the basket. It was a 66 second clip but it spoke volumes about the Raptors head coach. He stands up for his guys and does not care what the league or anybody else will say about him.
It was interesting to hear a lot of people hone in on his comment about Scottie Barnes one day being the face of the league. That part of his rant was phenomenal, he showed how much he cares about his guys, what else would you want your head coach to say about your home grown 22 year old star.
Rajakovic began coaching at the age of 16 for the Serbian club Borac Cacak, and stayed there 3 years. It’s good to know other people started young as well. When I was 16 I combined Fruit Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch and was waiting for a Nobel Prize. When it comes to coaching, there are going to be guys that just start in the league, that’s the way it is. Whether they are a relative of someone who has already been there or a former player who has put in their time on the court. Darko’s coaching story does not start in the NBA, it starts in Serbia in Borac Hall that has a max capacity of 3,000. He spent time with the youth team here and then at the age of 19 he became the head coach of the youth team Crvena Zvezda. It was around this age that I realized that to save dishes I could put cereal in a plastic cup and it tasted just as good.
He spent 8 years with his second team and 11 years in total coaching youth basketball. The year was now 2009 and he got his first contract not in youth basketball with Espacio Torrelodones in the Spanish EBA League. Although he had spent stints with Summer League teams before, in 2011 he got his first long term taste of the NBA when he became the head coach of the Tulsa 66ers (now Oklahoma City Blue) in the NBA Development league and he has not looked back since. In 2014 he became an assistant for the Thunder where he worked closely with players such as Steven Adams, Victor Oladipo, and Dennis Schroder. After 5 seasons with the Thunder he spent a year in Phoenix and then three with Memphis where his offensive minded style gained more and more notice throughout the league.
On June 13th, 2023 he became the head coach of the Toronto Raptors.
Rajakovic spent 17 years coaching before he landed a head coaching gig in the NBA. He started on a different continent and for his first ten years he was coaching youth basketball.
I don’t have any more cereal lines for you but I do have this. Darko's inspiring story shows us that it may take time to get to where we want, but if we put our head down and work, we might just be given a shot. Once there we have to stay true to ourselves and make the most of the opportunity we are given.
Who is Darko Rajakovic? He’s the coach of the Toronto Raptors, he’s been coaching since he was 16 years old, he’s got juice, and he’s a guy I’m rooting for.
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