Former Gonzaga guard Luka Krajnovic joins Croatian junior club

Croatian guard is headed back home after one season at Gonzaga

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

After one season with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Croatian guard Luka Krajnovic is set to return home to Zagreb, Croatia, where he’ll join KK Cedevita’s junior club team, per his Instagram.

Krajnovic, who played 15 games with the Zags as a freshman this past season, made a name for himself with KK Bosch Zagreb, another team from the premier Croatian A-1 Liga, prior to coming to Spokane last August. He led the team in scoring with 18.2 points to go with 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in 32 games. Krajnovic shot 53.2% from the field.

The 6-foot-2 guard never found his footing in Mark Few’s rotation due to a combination of injury and the talent ahead of him in the depth chart. A broken hand suffered on Dec. 15 forced Krajnovic to miss nine games during the regular season. He also missed the Sweet 16 game against Purdue due to illness.

Krajnovic had few opportunities to see the court behind Nembhard and Hickman, both of whom averaged over 35 minutes last season. Dusty Stromer garnered most of the backcourt minutes off the bench when one of the starters came off for a rest, leaving few chances for Krajnovic to get meaningful reps with Gonzaga’s second unit.

In his lone season with the Bulldogs, Krajnovic averaged 3.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and shot 14-of-30 (46.7%) from the field and made three 3-pointers. He scored a season-high seven points on four occasions and appeared in the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament games against McNeese State and Kansas.

Krajnovic’s departure opened up a fourth scholarship for Gonzaga, as Anton Watson (NBA), Pavel Stosic (transfer portal) and Colby Brooks (transfer portal) said goodbye to the program this offseason. The Zags seized an opportunity to add to their backcourt depth by way of Arkansas grad transfer Khalif Battle, who comes to Spokane after putting up nearly 30 points per game in his last seven outings with the Razorbacks. Colgate transfer and reigning Patriot League Player of the Year Braeden Smith is insurance for the future, as he opted to redshirt in 2024-25.

Few also added Tarleton State transfer Emmanuel Innocenti and Pepperdine transfer Michael Ajayi to a team that returns seven of its top eight scorers from last season’s Sweet 16 run.