Nika Barič

Nika Barič (born 2 September 1992)^[1][2] is a Slovenian basketball player. She was selected in the second round of the 2012 WNBA draft (20th overall) by the Minnesota Lynx but was waived in May 2016 without ever having played for the team.

Nika Barič

No. 9 – Nika Syktyvkar
Position	Point guard
League	Russian Women's Basketball Premier League EuroCup Women
Personal information
Born	(1992-09-02) 2 September 1992 (age 32) Trbovlje, Slovenia
Nationality	Slovenian
Listed height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Listed weight	136 lb (62 kg)
Career information
WNBA draft	2012: 2nd round, 20th overall pick
Drafted by	Minnesota Lynx
Playing career	2007–present
Career history
2007–2011	Athlete Celje
2011–2015	Spartak Moscow Region
2015–2019	UMMC Ekaterinburg
2019–2020	Dynamo Kursk
2020–2021	Elazığ İl Özel İdarespor
2021–2022	Dynamo Kursk
2022–2022	Çukurova Basketbol
2022–2023	Nika Syktyvkar
2023–2024	CCC Polkowice
Career highlights
FIBA Europe Young Women's Player of the Year Award (2010)
Stats at Basketball Reference

She represented Slovenia at the 2017, 2019, and 2021 Eurobasket which was managed by coach Damir Grgić throughout this period. In April 2023, two months before the 2023 tournament which was to be co-hosted by her native Slovenia, Barič was kicked off the national team over her controversial remarks in social media in which she disparaged the leadership of the Basketball Federation of Slovenia for having retained services of Greek coach George Dikeoulakos to manage the team at the next Eurobasket and stated there was 'no need to hire foreign coaches when Slovene coaches, such as Damir Grgić were available'. A few days later, Barič followed-up with a clarification of her earlier statement saying it was not a personal attack on Dikeoulakos but rather a repeated comment (which she had previously made in October 2021) on the work of the Basketball Federation which, she thought, had been unfair to Grgić by dismissing him after he had led the team successfully at three different Eurobasket competitions.